Destiny and Voyager Crossroads
by JediMasterJim
Summary: When Voyager crosses paths with Destiny, can the two crews pool their resources and get both crews home to their respective Earths?
1. Chapter 1 - Wormhole

**Destiny and Voyager Crossroads**

This is a crossover story between Star Trek Voyager and Stargate Universe. As for the timeline, for Star Trek: Voyager this interaction happened in the first half of season 7. For Stargate Universe, this happened a few weeks after the Destiny crew were brought out of their 3-year hibernation sleep after the end of season 2. I'm ignoring the SGU comic.

Disclaimer: Stargate Universe belongs to MGM. Stargate Voyager belongs to Paramount Pictures. I own nothing. I am not making a cent from this story. This is for entertainment purposes only.

* * *

**Chapter 1 – Wormhole**

**USS Voyager - Bridge**

"So, Harry, where does it lead?" asked Captain Janeway.

"Good question. The probe didn't recognise a single star system or constellation."

"So much for the Alpha Quadrant." Surmised Chakotay.

"Our luck is not that good." Added Tom Paris.

The crew of Voyager had been stranded in the Delta Quadrant for over six years. The Caretaker who kidnapped Voyager along with its crew had died shortly after Voyager's arrival. His spaceship known as The Array had blown up soon after leaving Voyager without a quick way back home. They'd been forced to take the long way back home ever since. The Voyager crew had just very recently spotted a wormhole. It greatly resembles the Bajoran wormhole at Deep Space Nine but apparently this one leads somewhere else. Thirty minutes ago they had sent through a probe. It's mission was to scan everything around it and see if it can find out where it is on the other side. Two minutes ago it had come back through the wormhole to transmit it's findings. It had apparently got good sensor readings but failed to find out where it was.

"From what I can tell from these readings, wherever the probe was, it wasn't in the Milky Way galaxy." Said Harry Kim.

"It doesn't appear to be any of the nearby galaxies either." Added Tuvok, who is also monitoring the sensor logs. "The black holes and large nebulae that can be seen from the nearby galaxies from the Milky Way galaxy does not match any that the probe detected on long range sensors."

"Anyone interested in the longest trek in human history?" asked Tom.

"Take us in, Tom." Announced Janeway.

"I was just kidding. There's no real reason to leave the Milky Way galaxy." Said Tom.

"Are you scared?" taunted Chakotay.

"I'm not scared. What I mean is, we're already fifty thousand light years from home. Do we really want to add millions or billions of light years to that number?" asked Tom.

"We're explorers Tom." Said Janeway. "We explore. It's not like we're in any hurry to go home. The Alpha Quadrant will still be there. I don't think anyone's going to mind a little side-trip. If there's any danger we'll hightail it back here."

"Okay. I'm sold. Let's hope that wormhole is as stable as those readings say it is. If we get stranded in a far-off galaxy, we can forget about ever going home." Replied Tom.

"That's actually a good point. Harry, Tuvok, double-check those readings on the stability of the wormhole. I want to make sure it's a two-way trip." Ordered Chakotay.

After a few minutes of reading the sensor scans Harry announced, "It's just as stable as the Bajoran wormhole."

"Confirmed." Added Tuvok.

"That's good enough for me." Said Janeway. "I'll better alert the crew." Janeway then announced over the intercom about their intention to enter a wormhole and to hold onto something. After a few minutes to let the crew prepare for the journey, Janeway announced, "This is it. Take us in, Tom."

Tom handled the controls at his helm station. The USS Voyager started moving toward the wormhole, accelerating as it did so. The wormhole appeared out of nowhere on the forward viewscreen, just like the Bajoran wormhole does when ships approach it. Voyager kept on a steady course, leading it right in. The wormhole swallowed up the spaceship, then the wormhole disappeared, just like the Bajoran wormhole. Nothing was left except the view of stars in the cold, blackness of space. It was as if the wormhole and Voyager were never there.


	2. Chapter 2 - Extreme Range

**Chapter 2 – Extreme Range**

**Destiny – Stargate room.**

Around two dozen crew were in the Stargate room in Destiny. Destiny was currently at FTL cruising through space through the galaxy. Eli Wallace, Colonel Everett Young, Doctor Nicholas Rush and Lieutenant Matthew Scott were on the upper walkway overlooking the room containing the Stargate. About twenty people were on the lower floor in front of the Stargate.

Colonel Young was addressing the audience, "It's been a few weeks since we came out of stasis. It looks like everybody has recovered okay. At least from the stasis." Young added, after looking at Lisa Park, who was still blind after a dangerous mission to recharge Destiny by flying through a giant star back in the previous galaxy. Lisa was stuck in the dome room during the flight through a star, which left her vulnerable to some of the blinding light and heat from the star. "Eli will explain about the Stargate and our progress on repairing it." Young then looked at Eli standing next to him with a smirk as he didn't give Eli any warning he was going to put him on the spot like that.

"Umm, okay then." Said a bewildered Eli. He took a breath and turned to the crowd. "Here's what we know so far. Apparently, the Ancients did plan on using the Stargate for transportation to and from Destiny and home. This Stargate, as well as all the other ancient stargates we've seen in the last few galaxies, let's call them Stargate 1.0, only have a range of a few hundred light years. But all of these Stargates, as well as the newer ones on Earth which we'll call Stargate 2.0 and the ones in the Pegasus galaxies which we'll call Stargate 3.0, can simply increase the range by giving them a power boost. Unfortunately, the power boost required to give this Stargate 1.0 the range to cross the distance all the way back to Earth almost defies comprehension.

"Now, of course we have the stars which can supply that power. This Stargate itself can do it. Even this primitive 1.0 model we have here. The Stargate is not the problem. We've already managed it in that alternate time line which sent Telford home. That's not the bad news. The bad news is the power conduits which connect to the Stargate. Apparently, they were up to the task way back when they were first built. But that was millions of years ago. They are not quite up to the job now. They were pushed to the max before and it only managed to send one person home before it malfunctioned and the wormhole jumped to another gate. It also seriously damaged Destiny which led to its destruction in that other timeline. The job we have is to repair all these conduits and try to make them, well, let's just say industrial strength, before we try anything like that again."

"How long will that take?" asked someone from the crowd below. Eli didn't quite catch who.

"That's a good question." Replied Eli. "Well, first, we're still trying to figure out how to do that. We've already tried the repair bot, but it thinks there's nothing wrong with them because they still work. We somehow have to repair or replace them ourselves. None of us currently have the skills to do that so the timeframe is up in the air. It could be anywhere from several months to years."

* * *

**USS Voyager – Unknown galaxy**

The USS Voyager was cruising through space.

"The latest scans have come in. No sign of technology anywhere within range." Announced Tuvok.

"We've scanned 50 planets now in 10 solar systems. No technology whatsoever." Remarked Janeway.

"Nothing smarter than animals grazing in fields." Added Chakotay.

"You've got to admit. For an unknown galaxy far from the Milky Way, this is turning into a bit of a letdown." Said Tom.

Janeway was starting to admit that Tom was right. This galaxy was turning out to be rather ordinary. Nothing strange or unusual at all apart from the lack of intelligent life. She was about to suggest shore leave on one of the planets before she was interrupted by Harry Kim.

"We have a contact." Harry called out. "There's a spaceship on our far range scanners."

"Finally. Life." Announced Janeway.

"It's at warp." Added Harry. "It's heading this way."

"Hail it." Ordered Janeway.

"No response." Harry added a moment later. "It's fast. It's doing warp 9.999."

"That's faster than what Voyager can do." Remarked Tom.

"Is it still headed for us?" asked Janeway.

"Not exactly." Replied Tuvok. "It will get as close as 20 million kilometres to us before continuing on."

"It's not slowing down." Added Harry. "It will pass us in 30 seconds."

"Let's intercept. Tom. Maximum warp. Let's try and catch them." Ordered Janeway.

"Engaging maximum warp." Replied Tom Paris. They felt a lurch as Voyager went to warp. Chakotay contacted engineering via intercom advising them of current events and that they were going to try to push Voyager past it's top speed.

"Warp 8. Warp 9." Tom announced. "Warp 9.2, 9.3" Tom Paris realised he might not make the intercept. He was altering his course to where the other spaceship will be rather than where it is right now in order to try to make the intercept.

"Continue trying to hail them Harry."

"If we can't get their attention, we won't be able to catch them." Advised Tom. "Warp 9.8, 9.9."

Chakotay pressed the intercom button again. "B'Elanna, I know Seven has made some Borg enhancements to the engines and warp nacelles. Any chance of topping our maximum speed?"

"Highly inadvisable but we can give it a shot. Even if we top it, we won't be able to maintain it for more than a few minutes. Seven is here with me. We'll give it a shot." B'Elanna's voice said over the intercom speakers.

"9.975! That's Voyager's official top speed." Announced Tom Paris. "Let's see what this baby can do."

"No response to hails." Announced Harry.

"9.98!" shouted Tom.

"Engines holding so far." Remarked Tuvok.

"9.99!" shouted Tom.

"The other ship is almost here." Said Harry.

"9.995!" shouted Tom. Warning lights and warnings started beeping on the displays.

"It's overtaking us." Reported Harry.

"9.999!" shouted Tom. More warning signs and an emergency siren started blaring.

"We're matching it's speed. It's just a few thousand kilometres in front of us." Announced Harry.

"Keep hailing the ship!" Called out Janeway.

* * *

On board the bridge of Destiny, Dale Volker and Adam Brody were going through the displays, learning more about the systems of Destiny. They were also listening to what Eli was saying over the intercom. One of the control panels was beeping.

"The FTL engines are running smoothly. You've got to admit it's been a lot less work since we've let Destiny continue on with its mission." Dale Volker remarked.

"Just further and further away from Earth." Adam Brody replied. A second light on another control panel started beeping. "I've never seen that light beep before. What does it mean?"

"Just press the button. I'll get this other beeping button over here." Dale replied. Adam pressed the button that was flashing and beeping.

"We are…..come in…behind you….slow down…peace" a garbled male voice came in over the speakers.

"I don't recognise that voice. Do you?" Adam asked Dale.

"No." Dale pressed the other button. The monitor in front of him changed from a readout display to external sensors. It resembled a radar screen with a flashing dot near the centre of the screen.

"I think there's another ship out there." Dale said. "I better tell Young."

Young and Eli were still talking to the crowd in the Gate room when Young's radio came to life and interrupted them.

"Young? This is Dale. I think we're being followed."

"To the bridge?" Young asked.

"No. Destiny is being followed. There's another ship out there."

"We're at FTL. You sure?"

"We're hearing a voice over the speakers and the external sensors have detected something behind Destiny." Came Dale's voice over the radio speaker.

"I'm on my way. Eli, Scott, you better come with me." They hurried off in the direction of the bridge.

* * *

"It can't take much more of this Captain! It hasn't got the power!" B'Elanna screamed through the communicator at Janeway. B'Elanna, Seven and a few other engineers were frantically pressing buttons at their consoles, trying to stop the warp core and other systems from failing. Sparks and warning beeps were emitting from more and more consoles.

"Just a bit longer B'Elanna." Replied Janeway. "Have we got their attention Harry?"

"Hard to tell. I'm pretty sure they can hear me but they're not responding."

"Keep hailing them."

* * *

"Attention spacecraft. This is the USS Voyager. We are an exploration vessel. Please respond."

The male voice came out of the speakers.

"The signal has cleared up." Said Adam Brody to the people as they arrived on the bridge. Nicholas Rush walked onto the bridge behind them. Adam continued. "It's in English. No translating algorithm."

"Where is it coming from?" asked Everett Young.

"Right behind us." Said Dale Volker. "Just a few thousand kilometres away."

"We will not be able to keep up with you for long. Please slow down." The voice continued.

"Can we slow down?" asked Young.

"We don't know how. It's either maximum speed at FTL or drop out of FTL." Replied Dale. Young thought for a moment. Dale looked at the monitor. "I think we're starting to lose them."

"Are they good guys? We haven't had much luck with alien species lately." Remarked Eli. Young looked at Eli, deep in thought.

"Bring us out of FTL." Ordered Young. "Let's hope they're friendly. It would be nice to have some friends to talk to." Dale pressed a few buttons and Destiny came out of FTL and back into real space.

"Where's the other ship?" asked Young.

"I think that's it." Replied Dale, pointing to a blip on his display screen. "They're catching up to us."

"Raise shields." Ordered Young.

"Shields raised." Replied Dale. "Looks like it will take them a minute to get here."

* * *

"Stabilise the power feed now or we'll have a warp core breach!" shouted B'Elanna to the other engineers in engineering. Warnings and beeps were going off from all directions. Display screens were giving flashing red warnings such as 'Emergency' and 'Critical'. Sparks were flying from some of the displays. B'Elanna, Seven and the other engineers were frantically operating the consoles.

"We might have to eject the warp core." Warned Vorik, the Vulcan engineer.

"Not if I have anything to say about it." B'Elanna replied. Warning beeps increased in intensity. An engineering console burst into sparks.

"I recommend venting some of the plasma to lose pressure and bring down the temperature." Remarked Seven.

"Agreed. Do it." Replied B'Elanna. Seven pressed buttons on the console as fast as she could. "Venting plasma."

"Temperature dropping." Vorik announced. More warning beeps sounded and sparks flashed from consoles. "But not fast enough."

"Ahh crap. Emergency shutdown!" ordered B'Elanna. She, Seven and Vorik frantically pressed buttons on the consoles. For the next minute they were all in deep concentration at their stations. Although Seven and Vorik are by nature unemotional, the sweat appearing on their faces revealed the true danger they knew they were in with an unstable warp core in the room.

"Warp core shutdown complete." Seven finally revealed with some relief in her voice. The warning beeps stopped beeping and there were no more sparks emitting from the consoles. The warp core was no longer glowing blue as it was deactivated.

"I believe the humans would call that 'cutting it close to the wire.'" Remarked Vorik, himself unintentionally showing some relief on his voice as well.

"How is the warp core?" Janeway's voice came out over B'Elanna's commbadge.

"Emergency shutdown, Captain." B'Elanna replied. "We won't be warping anywhere anytime soon."

"Well we caught up to our quarry so hopefully we won't have to." Janeway said.


	3. Chapter 3 - Voyager Meets Destiny

**Chapter 3 – Voyager meets Destiny**

**Destiny – Stargate room**

Several people walked from the bridge to the Stargate room. Most of the people that were there from the earlier briefing were still there, including Chloe Armstrong. Several more people were arriving from other parts of the ship due to an announcement made over the intercom from Colonel Everett Young inviting people to the Stargate room to greet the new visitors. Overall there were about three dozen people in the Stargate room.

"Eli, what happened on the bridge?" Chloe asked.

"There are human beings from Earth in that other spaceship." Replied Eli.

"Say what?" Chloe stammered. Several other people nearby were also listening in and were surprised as well.

"That's what they said. Young has been talking to someone from their ship called 'Captain Janeway' for several minutes via the comm system. They have teleport technology on that spaceship. That's why Young called us here. They're going to beam into this room!" Eli continued, excited by the imminent arrival of new human beings on the Destiny.

"Everybody away from the centre of the room." Matthew Scott ordered. "Our visitors are about to beam in. Clear the middle!" People started moving over to the walls. Everett Young walked into the gate room. "Also, no talking" Scott added. "We'll let the captains do the talking."

"Dale, tell Voyager it's okay for them to beam over to the gate room." Young ordered over the radio. They had already given Voyager instructions on where the gate room was.

"Affirmative." Dale replied. A moment later, everyone watched wide-eyed as four energy shimmers appeared in the centre of the room before they coalesced into four human figures. They realised they hadn't seen beaming technology since they were beamed from the U.S.S George Hammond onto the planet Icarus 2 years, no, make that 5 years ago. The shimmering looked slightly different to what they remembered from the Daedalus-class spaceship. The shimmering faded leaving one female and three males. All of them were wearing a similar uniform to each other which was mostly black but had different colours around the shoulders. The four new arrivals looked around the room. They noticed over a dozen of them dressed in ancient army overalls with ancient machine guns on shoulder straps.

"Greetings." Said Colonel Everett Young. "I am Colonel… I mean, Captain Everett Young."

"I am Captain Janeway of the USS Voyager." Announced Janeway. "These are my crew members Lieutenant Tom Paris, Security officer Tuvok and Harry Kim."

Young decided he needed to introduce a few of his own crew members. He quickly looked around to see who he could introduce. "Here we have Lieutenant Matthew Scott, Lieutenant Tamara Johansen, Master Sergeant Ronald Greer and 2nd Lieutenant Vanessa James. We'll get around to everyone eventually."

"A pleasure to meet you all." Announced Captain Kathryn Janeway. "But for now, we're rather amazed at how you are all here. Are you human beings from Earth?"

"Yes, we are." Young replied. "Your crew are from Earth as well?"

"Yes. Well, most of us. Some are aliens from different planets and some humans were not born on Earth."

A lot of people in the crowd were getting more amazed by what she was saying. Humans born on other planets working with Earth. Aliens in the crew. The Destiny crew knew about Teal'c and that a portion of the humans in Atlantis were born in the Pegasus galaxy but could things have progressed that far in the three years they were in stasis? Are they really from Earth?

"We don't recognise your uniform." Young revealed. "What organization are you with?"

"We're with Starfleet. Starfleet is Earth's space organisation and it is a part of the United Federation of Planets." Janeway announced. Janeway looked at the crowd and noticed the increasing look of curiosity on their faces.

"Exactly what year is it on Earth?" Everett Young asked.

"2377." Janeway replied. Everyone in the crowd looked astonished.

"Say again?" Young blurted out.

"2377. The Stardate is…" Janeway was about to read out the stardate, but looking at the surprised faces instead asked. "What year is it for your guys?"

"2014." Young replied. Now it was the four guests who were surprised by the answer. The Destiny crew watched the Voyager crew as they seemed to be thinking, going through their memories.

"You said the name of this ship is Destiny?" Janeway asked.

"Yes". Young replied. Tuvok and Harry Kim started typing away on handheld devices which looked like cell phones.

"Any records of Destiny in our historical database, Tuvok?" Janeway asked.

"Negative. Also, to state the obvious, Earth did not have the technology either then or now to travel this far from the Milky Way galaxy." Tuvok replied.

"Okay. So, let's start with the obvious. How did you come to be so far from Earth?" Janeway asked Everett Young.

"I could ask you the same thing." Young replied. Janeway looked at him with a fixed expression. "Okay, I'll answer first. We came by Stargate."

"By what?" Janeway asked blankly.

"Stargate." Young pointed to a round metal device sticking out of the ground a few metres away. "That round thing is a Stargate." Young looked at the four guests. They were all looking at him quizzically.

"What exactly is a Stargate?" Janeway asked.

The crew of Destiny all looked at Janeway incredulously.

* * *

Edit: Luckily Fanfiction allows edits. A reviewer pointed out the Destiny crew knew about beaming technology and humans on other planets. I forgot about them being beamed from the Daedalus-class spaceship onto planet Icarus in episode 1. So I made a couple of slight changes so they weren't so surprised by it.


	4. Chapter 4 - Stargates Explained

**Chapter 4 – Stargates Explained**

**Destiny – Stargate room**

"How can you not know what a Stargate is?" Young asked. "Earth has been using them since the 90's. I mean the 1990s. They're a million years old. They'll still be using them in your time. How on Earth can you not know what a Stargate is?" Tuvok and Harry Kim had walked over to the Stargate and were holding their devices near it while pressing buttons on it.

"Why are you holding your phones so close to it?" Matthew Scott asked.

"These aren't phones. They're tricorders. We're scanning this device." Tuvok explained.

"You really don't know what a Stargate is." Matthew Scott realised.

"Should we?" asked Tom Paris.

"Are you sure you're from our future?" asked Everett Young.

"That is an interesting question." Stated Tuvok.

"This Stargate is completely alien tech. This metal is unknown." Stated Harry Kim.

"We better explain the Stargate. Eli, you're the best at explaining things like this. Explain what a Stargate is." Young ordered Eli.

Eli realized he'd been put on the spot again but he was fascinated by this conversation, so he didn't mind. "A Stargate has the ability to open a wormhole with any other Stargate in the universe provided you know the co-ordinates and have sufficient power to open the wormhole. This Stargate has the ability to open a wormhole about a few hundred light years across under its own power."

The four Voyager crew members dropped their jaws.

Tom Paris spoke first. "We have fairly detailed records of your time. But no Stargates whatsoever. If there were Stargates on Earth in our past we would know about it. We would still be using them."

"If this Stargate only has a range of a few hundred light years, how did you come to be on this ship?" Janeway asked. Young looked to Eli.

"The other Stargate which we used to come here was plugged into the planets energy rich core. It increased the Stargates range exponentially. Unfortunately we haven't found a safe way to return home." Eli explained.

"Back to you guys." Young said. "How did the USS Voyager come to be here?"

Janeway turned to Tom Paris. "You can explain that one Tom."

"A few days ago we were in the Milky Way galaxy until we found a wormhole which led to this galaxy. We decided to check it out. We've been exploring this galaxy right up until we detected this spaceship at high warp and we decided to intercept. Now here we are."

"Explain this wormhole." Young stated.

"It's a naturally occurring phenomenon which is in deep space which connects the Milky Way to this galaxy. It's big enough to fit Voyager." Tuvok explained.

"Is it big enough to fit Destiny?" Asked Eli.

"Maybe, but I don't think we should continue this talk here." Janeway said. "This talk could go on for quite awhile and I believe both teams need time for this news to sink in. I believe we should continue this talk later. How about we invite half a dozen crew members from Destiny to have dinner on Voyager tonight?"

"We would be honoured." Replied Young.

They then compared times between Voyager and Destiny to see what time dinner would be. They concluded it would be two and a half hours from now. They agreed Voyager would beam over six people who were standing in the centre of the Stargate room at 7pm. Janeway, Tuvok, Tom and Harry then disappeared in a shimmer of light. The crew of Destiny watched open mouthed as they watched the four people disappear right in front of them.

"Wow!" Exclaimed Chloe.

"That goes for all of us." Added Eli.

"I smell trap." Stated Dr Nicholas Rush.

"Buzzkill." Replied Eli.

"Trust you to see the negative side of this." Observed Young.

"Just being careful. We haven't had much luck with visitors lately." Added Rush.

"You can stay here then."

"Gladly. You can fill me in afterwards." Announced Rush.

"Rush might have a point. This could be some kind of elaborate trap, but I don't think so. So I'm asking for volunteers. Anyone want to have dinner on the other spaceship?" Offered Young.

"Pick me!" Offered Eli instantly.

"Me!" Called out Chloe. Quite a few people put up their hands or called out. In less than a minute they had picked out the six people who would be having dinner on Voyager.

"All of you be back here by 6:55pm." Ordered Everett Young.


	5. Chapter 5 - Checking out Voyager

**Chapter 5 – Destiny's crew check out Voyager**

**Voyager – Kitchen, Officer's Mess**

Neelix was in the freezer in the kitchen opening up a large container box when Janeway entered.

"Janeway! Ever since I got your message, I have been busy finding all the ingredients necessary for our guests tonight."

"Fabulous. I just had to go over a few things in person."

"Of course. I remember. Only choose a menu that will be recognizable to Earthlings, I mean humans, from the early 21st century." Recounted Neelix. "Luckily food habits haven't changed much since the late 20th century when we were on Earth in our own time-travelling adventure. Which is why I am going to cook this." Neelix reached into the container box and managed to pull out what appears to be a large chicken leg. It was three feet across. Neelix was using both arms to hold it up. "Here it is! The Brazorkon bird we picked up at the trading post on planet Derano last month. I knew it was a good idea to save this leg for a great occasion. That party we had last month when we cooked the other leg was a spectacular success! Everyone agreed it tastes just like steak so this will be the best time ever to cook the remaining leg. The tricorder scan insists it just needs cooking to make it safe for humans. Nobody got sick from the first leg."

"One look at that and they're going to realise it's not from Earth." Janeway remarked.

"I'll use the replicator to reshape both the meat and the bone, so it looks more recognisable. It will take far less energy for the food replicator to simply reshape it rather than make all of it from scratch."

"You are allowed replicator rations for this dinner." Janeway reminded Neelix.

"Yes, and I will need them for the remaining items. You haven't seen the energy levels for the food replicators today, have you? Thanks to that high-speed pursuit an hour ago, not even the food replicators escaped unscathed. They're only at half-power. We're going to have to cook this leg in order to have a first-class feast.

"There is another issue." Neelix continued. "How do we know these humans are really humans? Could this possibly be some kind of elaborate trap by an alien species to capture us?"

"Paranoid, are we?" teased Janeway.

"Well, considering all the first contact situations we've had, this does remind me of that alien who made that fake Federation starship to try to lead us to the Borg." Warned Neelix. "I do have something which could make them slip up and tell us the truth over dinner."

"Harry and Tuvok managed to scan them while they were on Destiny. From what we could tell, they are human and they are from Earth. They seemed friendly enough. If you're talking about slipping truth serum into the dinner then I'm sorry, Neelix, that's going too far."

"No, no! No drugs! What I'm talking about is a lot less legal and a lot more acceptable. Alcohol!"

"Umm, well, actually, despite my better judgement. Do it." Janeway agreed.

"Good! In that case I'll make sure this will be a feast to remember!" Declared Neelix.

"Great! I can't wait. See you at dinner." Janeway turned and left the kitchen. She had one more stop to make. Engineering.

* * *

**Voyager – Engineering**

Janeway walked into engineering and surveyed the sight. It was a chaotic mess of smoking screens, spare parts and broken parts lying all over the floor. A dozen people were either working on systems or carrying parts to other stations. B'Elanna was barking orders at one crew member and other crew members were trying to interrupt B'Elanna to ask her something. Janeway noticed the room seemed dimmer without the constant shimmering blue light of the warp core. Now that the warp core was shut down, it was an eerie dark blue. Janeway decided to just observe engineering for a minute before interrupting. Eventually she walked up to B'Elanna.

"Okay, what's the situation?" Janeway asked.

"I could try to give you a damage report but that will be a really long list. There are more things broken than not broken." B'Elanna replied.

Seven added. "The Borg enhancements I have made to Voyager's systems were to help Voyager maintain it's top speed of Warp 9.975 longer, not to exceed our top speed. A lot of relays, power conduits and systems are fried."

"What's powering our ship at the moment?" Janeway asked. Seven pointed to a mechanical contraption about the size of a fridge sitting a few metres away.

"That's the fusion reactor I built last year for this type of incident. It is working at optimal performance."

"Optimal performance? Can it take us to warp 9.9?" asked Janeway.

"No. With so many systems and relays down we are not capable of warp at all. Even once we have repaired the systems, I wouldn't recommend taking Voyager over Warp 4 while powered by this reactor."

"So, what do you mean by optimal performance?"

"It means it is capable of providing power to all of Voyager's systems and will make it a lot easier for us to repair the ship." Seven replied matter-of-factly.

"Would this fusion reactor have something to do with food replicators being at half power?" asked Janeway.

"No. I have noticed a lot of the replicators, including food replicators, are damaged. They will need to be repaired before they can operate at full power."

Janeway turned to B'Elanna. "What's your estimate on the timeframe on when all systems are repaired?"

"Could be about two weeks." B'Elanna replied. "We still haven't identified all the damaged systems yet."

"Well at least the humans we found are friendly. We're inviting them to dinner. The senior crew will be joining them. That means you B'Elanna. Report to the mess hall for dinner in two hours. I'll leave you to it." Janeway turned around and left engineering.

* * *

**Voyager – Transporter Room**

"Initiating transport." Said the engineer. Captain Janeway, Harry Kim and Tuvok looked on as energy coalesced on the transporter pads as six figures materialised. The energy shimmered away revealing six people from the Destiny.

"Welcome to Voyager." Greeted Captain Janeway. The six people from the Destiny looked around at the room they were in.

"A pleasure to be here Captain. Captain Everett Young, at your service." Replied Colonel Everett Young. "You've already met Lieutenant Matthew Scott. This is Eli Wallace, Chloe Armstrong, Camile Wray and Dale Volker."

"Hello." They all said simultaneously. Then they all started looking about the room again.

"Nice layout." Remarked Chloe.

"Carpet." Called out Eli.

"More lighting." Observed Dale.

"Is Voyager a cruise liner?" asked Chloe.

"No, it is not." Replied Tuvok. "The USS Voyager is a vessel of Starfleet. Its main mission is exploration."

"Most of you have already met Harry Kim and Tuvok. Come, dinner will be ready. Let's head off to the Officer's Mess." Announced Kathryn Janeway. She walked out of the transporter room, followed by the Destiny crew along with Harry Kim and Tuvok.

As they walked down the corridor they were just as impressed.

"Finally we have a spaceship that actually looks good!" exclaimed Eli.

"Why thank you." Replied Janeway. "I make sure the crew keeps it spick and span."

"The only 2 other spaceships I've been on beside this one seems to be built just for function." Eli added.

"We'll give you all a tour of this ship later. Right now, dinner." They all came up to the end of the corridor. Janeway pressed a button and the door at the end opened, revealing a small elevator.

"I'll take 3 of you. Tuvok will take the rest of you. See you in the mess hall."

* * *

In the mess hall Tuvok's group joined up with Janeway's group.

"Welcome to the mess hall. This is our cook Neelix." Janeway introduced Neelix. Destiny's six crew members all looked surprised to see that the chef standing before them was an alien wearing an apron and a chef's hat.

"A most sincere welcome to Voyager." Neelix announced. "The crew seem most happy to bump into other earthlings here so far out in space."

"Believe me, we're just as happy ourselves." Young replied.

"Well, don't worry. Janeway did inform me beforehand to only serve food from Earth and from your time period. Here is your table." Neelix pointed out to where a few tables had been pushed together. There were twelve seats, six on each side. "What better way to get to know each other than over dinner. All six of you will be on one side and six members of Voyager's crew will be on the other side." Destiny's crew smiled at this little arrangement then proceeded to take their seats. Janeway took her seat, opposite Captain Everett Young. She motioned for the other crew members who were nearby to take their seats. Tuvok and Harry Kim took their seats. Voyager's other crew members started arriving. Janeway invited them to sit down as well. Chakotay, Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres joined them at the table.

"Here is dinner!" announced Neelix as he arrived with several dinners that he was wheeling out to them on a trolley. The Destiny crew looked wide-eyed at the dinners as Neelix was handing out the plates full of food to each crew member. Each dinner had steak with gravy, sausages, potatoes, vegetables. Wine was also handed out to each crew member.

"Finally we get to taste this with our own tongues!" Exclaimed Eli. The Voyager crew members looked at him quizzically.

"We'll explain later." Said Everett Young. Everett, Eli, Matthew, Chloe, Camille and Dale all eagerly got stuck into their food. The Voyager crew members looked on wide-eyed at watching the Destiny crew members ravishly start devouring the food. Janeway realised she made the right choice inviting them to dinner.

"This sure beats the slop we're stuck with on Destiny." Stated Matthew. His crewmates nodded in agreement. Understatement of the year, thought Chloe. A tear was forming in her eye. They haven't actually had a chance to eat dinner while using the communication stones since they came out of the stasis pods a few weeks ago. They've just been giving reports and updates while using the stones so far. This meant they haven't actually had a good meal in 3 years. The Voyager crew decided to let them eat in mostly silence for a while. It wasn't until they had started on desert that Janeway decided to ask them about their situation.

"There's a few things I'd like to discuss. The first is, comparing your Earth to ours." Announced Janeway.

"Comparing? What do you mean? As in, technology?" asked Young.

"More along the lines of history. Comparing your version of the early 21st century with our history. We noticed you were surprised when we hadn't heard of the Stargate before. Maybe we can compare notes."

"What type of notes?" Replied Young.

"Let's just say" interrupted Tom Paris "We compare things like sport, celebrities, movies, who the US President is."

"Sounds good to me. Everybody, pitch in." Announced Young. Both crews called out who the last half a dozen presidents were. They realised they had the same presidents up until George Bush senior, then they were different. Then they called out TV and movie actors. Both sides, the Voyager and Destiny crew, realised that they had heard of about half of the names of actors that the other side called out, but didn't have a clue who the other half were.

"Who plays the Terminator in the first 3 Terminator movies?" called out Matthew Scott.

"Sylvester Stallone." Several Voyager crew members replied.

"No, it's Arnold Schwarzenegger." Replied Matthew incredulously. They continued calling out actors, movies and TV shows. Then they called out big news events, wars, disasters. Some had happened on both earths, but others happened on only one Earth. Some events had happened differently. They were spotting more and more differences, not just in the early 21st century but throughout the 20th century as well. It was becoming more and more apparent, until Janeway finally announced….

"Parallel Earth."

"Parallel universe." Added Tuvok.

"But who is in which universe?" asked Harry Kim. "Is Destiny in our universe or is Voyager in there's." Everybody thought for several seconds.

"We just used the communication stones this morning." Eli piped in. "I'm pretty sure they wouldn't work if we were in a parallel universe."

"Communications stones?" asked Chakotay.

"It will be a lot better if we show you what they can do." Everett Young quickly added. "Nobody tell them what they are. We'll surprise them sometime in the next few days."

"Then that means Voyager is no longer in its own universe." Tuvok stated.

"The wormhole?" surmised Tom Paris.

"Exactly." Replied Tuvok. "Not only did it take us to a galaxy far from the Milky Way, it took us into a parallel universe as well." They all looked at each other at this revelation. Nobody spoke for several seconds until Eli blurted out…

"Parallel universes are real! Yay!"

* * *

Has anyone seen the movie 'Last Action Hero' where a boy walks into a video rental store and finds a cardboard cut-out poster of Terminator 2 but it has Sylvester Stallone as the Terminator? That's where I got the idea from.


	6. Chapter 6 - Loose Lips

**Chapter 6 – Loose Lips**

**Voyager – Officer's Mess**

Neelix walked around the tables replacing the empty wine bottles.

"If you guys are from a parallel universe," realised Dale Volker "then that means on your Earth back in the early 21st century some of us would have counterparts, with maybe similar histories."

"Very possible." Surmised Tuvok. All the Destiny guests looked at Tuvok then at each other wide-eyed.

"Again?" asked Matthew Scott.

"What do you mean, again?" asked Janeway.

"Been there, done that. Got the T-shirt." announced Eli.

"Looks like you've already had some adventures on the Destiny." Remarked Chakotay.

"Oh yeah." Replied Matthew.

"Well, don't leave us in suspense. Fill us in on that adventure." Asked Tom Paris.

"Just leave out the part how we supercharged the Stargate." Everett Young chimed in. "Seeing how it's linked to how we recharge Destiny, leave that one as a surprise." The Voyager crew then recounted their plan to dial Earth only to have a second Dr Rush show up in another shuttle warning them their plan is doomed to fail. This future Rush fills them in that they went through the Stargate but most of them vanished without a trace. A couple of months later they found humans on a planet which turned out to be the descendants of the Destiny crew. Apparently, the wormhole had somehow jumped to not only another Stargate, but a Stargate around two thousand years ago. They realised their time travelling counterparts did an awesome job of settling down on several planets and starting a civilisation.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Harry.

"Now that's some revelation!" agreed B'Elanna.

"Your turn." Dale Volker said, referring to the Voyager crew. "Tell us about one of your adventures."

"We've had quite a few adventures. Which one to pick?" Tom Paris asked, looking at his teammates.

"How about the very first one. Explain what happened to Voyager on it's very first mission." Suggested Chakotay. The Voyager crew members then took turns explaining how Voyager was tasked with tracking down a segment of the Macqui which had vanished taking Tuvok who was working undercover with them. Voyager suddenly found themselves pulled 70,000 light years to the other side of the galaxy. They found Tuvok and the Macqui but now found themselves having to go back home the long way which will take over 70 years.

Everyone was in silence as the news sunk in. The Voyager crew members watched the Destiny crew members start looking at each other in a silent question. Then they looked back at the Voyager crew. Matthew was the first to speak.

"70 years?"

"Yeah." B'Elanna replied.

"To cross the Milky Way galaxy?" asked Chloe.

"Yeah." Answered Harry. "We've managed to find a couple of shortcuts, but we still have decades to go."

"Is there something we should know?" Janeway queried.

"It's just that, well, Destiny can cross a galaxy in roughly half a year." Explained Dale Volker.

Now it was the Voyager's crews turn for their jaws to drop.

"Wow!" exclaimed Tom Paris.

"No kidding!" added Harry Kim.

"So, you lot are stranded a long way from Earth also." Realised Camile Wray.

"You got it." Chakotay replied.

"That brings us back to you guys." Interrupted Janeway. "We know our history. From our comparing of the 20th and early 21st centuries, things weren't all that different. But from our history, we didn't invent warp technology until 2063. We've been getting quite a few hints today that things have happened differently on your Earth."

"You could say that." Replied Eli.

"It all has to do with the Stargate." Added Young. "We may as well fill them in. They'll find out eventually. Let's tell them about the Stargate on Earth and Stargate Command." Then Young, Dale, Camile, Matthew, Eli and Chloe all pitched in explaining about the Stargate that was dug up in Egypt. Once they figured out how to get it working, they started exploring the galaxy. They encountered many alien races, both good and evil. Their main obstacle was the tyrannical Goa'uld which conquered planets as they found them. Luckily, the slaves of the Goa'uld, the Jaffa, rebelled against the Goa'uld. The Jaffa teamed up with Earth and eventually defeated them. Most of the advanced technology that Earth has, has been reverse engineered from the alien races they have found. Before too long Earth was constructing and flying their own spaceships with Faster Than Light, or FTL technology.

"I wonder what your Earth would look like now. No, not now. We're in the past. I mean, in out time. 2377." Wondered Harry out loud.

"That could be anyone's guess." Speculated Dale.

"How exactly did you guys get to be on the Destiny?" asked Tom Paris. "I mean, you've already said by Stargate. We've scanned Destiny and we can't tell if it's from Earth or not. The technology is completely different from Voyager. We tried to determine it's age, but our scans just went right off the charts."

"Well, that involves the Stargate." Explained Dale. "You need to dial six symbols to get an address. But we found a nine-symbol address in an ancient database. We realised it dialled something in another galaxy, but we had a lot of trouble finding a way of establishing a lock-on. Eventually with the help of Maths boy Eli here," Dale pointed to Eli "and dialling the address on the planet Icarus which has an energy-rich core, we were able to dial it. We came through and ended up on the Destiny."

"You say you are stuck here, on Destiny." Probed Chakotay.

"Yes." Replied Dale. "The slightest miscalculation while…supercharging the Stargate to open a wormhole all the way back to Earth will either misdial another Stargate, blow up Destiny, or both. We'll need to make quite a few modifications before we try something like that again."

"We'll be more than happy to look into that with you." Offered Janeway. "We're rather curious about this Stargate".

"We can demonstrate it for you tomorrow." Said Young.

"Excellent." Announced Janeway. "Any other adventures?"

Both the Voyager and Destiny crew recounted some of the adventures they've had in the last few years. Then Chloe described one of her stories.

"One time I was kidnapped by really ugly skinny blue aliens. They kept me in water and then infected me with something which made me a spy. It also made me good at maths and computers and heal faster." Chloe was slurring half her words. By the way she was describing it, the Voyager crew couldn't tell if she was imagining it or not. That was when they decided they'd all had too much to drink and should call it a night.

"What do you say?" asked Janeway. "9am tomorrow?"

"Let's make it 10am. Something tells me we're all going to have hangovers." Replied Everett Young.

"Oh yeah." Added Tom Paris. They all started getting up, some struggling, most of them had eaten a lot more than usual. They all started to make their way out of the Mess Hall. Chloe started to stumble but was caught by Eli. Eli had only had one wine before switching to soft drink. He was the least drunk person in the room beside Neelix. Chloe looked at Janeway.

"A female captain." Chloe pointed out, still half slurring some of her words. "It's good to see the future turned out alright. This ship is waaaay prettier than Destiny."

"That's good to know." Replied Janeway. Eli continued to lead her out of the Mess Hall, followed by their crewmates. Once the last one was out of the room. "Harry, Tom, make sure they make their way to the Transporter Room. Otherwise they'll probably be wandering the corridors in a drunken haze for half the night trying to find it." Harry and Tom followed the Voyager crew out of the room.

* * *

Sorry for the delay. I have a job and real life getting in the way. I will try to do two chapters a week. Next chapter, the Voyager crew check out the Stargate!


	7. Chapter 7 - Through the Stargate

**Chapter 7 – Through the Stargate**

**Destiny – Mess Hall**

Chloe, Dale, Matthew, Camile, Everett and Eli were all eating breakfast at one table. Except for Eli, they all had hangovers. They were trying to concentrate on eating. The pounding in their heads was being magnified by the fact that a crowd had surrounded them asking what Voyager was like. Although they were asking all six of them questions, only Eli was answering.

"All of you! Leave us now!" Young ordered. Everybody scattered leaving the six people eating in silence again. Eli was smart enough to stay silent too.

* * *

**Voyager – Captain's Ready Room**

The door chimed.

"Come in." called out Janeway. The door opened.

Chakotay walked in and asked, "Is your hangover bigger than mine?"

"I doubt it." Replied Janeway with a hand to her temple.

"Loose lips." Mentioned Chakotay.

"Say what?" asked Janeway.

"Loose lips. Our mission was to find out as much as we could about Destiny and her crew. But there was a catch."

"I know. They found out just as much about us as we did about them."

"I wouldn't want to think about how much of the information we told them was classified." Remarked Chakotay.

"This is one of the few times I'm glad we're a hell of a long way from Starfleet."

"Sure thing. We can't even reprimand the others because we were just as drunk and blabbed just as much ourselves."

"Don't I know it. Whose idea was it to use alcohol as a truth serum?" Janeway asked.

"Neelix." They both answered.

"The catch is" Chakotay explained "Neelix's plan did work. It was a great ice breaker between the two crews. Also, we did find out a fair bit about them. If they were aliens in disguise or some other kind of imposters, I doubt they could have kept up the ruse."

"You're right. They're just as lost in space as we are." Janeway agreed.

"I guess that means we can trust them. Have fun checking out the Stargate."

* * *

**Destiny – Stargate Room**

People were walking into the Stargate room so they can witness the arrival of people from Voyager who are due to beam into the room in a couple of minutes. There were about twenty people in the room and more people were still arriving. Again, Matthew Scott were telling people to clear the centre of the room and stay near the walls.

Colonel Everett Young raised his radio to his lips. "We've cleared the centre of the Stargate room. You're all clear to beam in."

"We hear you." The voice said over the radio speaker. "We're energizing now." In the centre of the room, energy shimmered, then coalesced into eight people, Captain Janeway among them.

Janeway spoke first. "We have another eight people beaming in. We all want to see firsthand what the Stargate can do." Janeway motioned for her crew to move closer to the walls near the other crew. She then tapped her commbadge. "Beam the others over." Several seconds later the second group arrived. Amongst the Voyager crew were Tom Paris, B'Elanna, Harry Kim, Tuvok and Seven. The Destiny crew, particularly the males, noticed a beautiful blonde lady wearing a figure-hugging suit. Chloe and Alaina noticed several men staring at the lady and rolled their eyes. They also all saw that B'Elanna was there with her ridged forehead. They remembered her from last night's dinner, but they had already been briefed yesterday by Everett Young beforehand to be on their best behaviour and pretend not to notice any differences.

Colonel Everett Young then greeted Janeway. "Good to see you again, Captain Janeway."

"Likewise." Replied Janeway.

"We already had a pretty good introduction yesterday, so we'll get straight to it. You impressed us yesterday with the USS Voyager. Now it's time to impress you lot." Young looked at Dale, who was standing at the control panel for the Stargate. "Dale, begin the presentation."

"Greetings Voyager crew members. My name is Dale Volker, astrophysicist. Before you, in the centre of the room, is a Stargate. It is estimated there are thousands of Stargates in the Milky Way galaxy. At least, our Milky Way galaxy. Millions of years ago, an advanced race of aliens which looked human invented the Stargate. They were called the Alterans, but we now refer to them as the Ancients. Long ago they seeded not just the Milky Way galaxy but other galaxies with Stargates. The total number of Stargates in the universe is unknown but it could very well be in the millions. There are three different types of Stargates. This is one of the earliest ones which we call Stargate 1.0. It has the shortest range which we estimate to be a few hundred light years. This control panel is displaying a list of other Stargates which are within range. There are 8 Stargates in total. Four of them are locked out. We believe they are locked out due to either a malfunction of the Stargates, they could be buried, or the landscape is inhospitable. We will only attempt to travel to the safer Stargates. Let's try to dial one now. Please clear the area in front of the Stargate." Dale pressed a few buttons. A few soldiers motioned for the Voyager crew to move away from the front of the Stargate.

Master Sergeant Greer had a wooden branch about two metres long which he was holding upright. He had obtained the stick on a previous planet for just this kind of demonstration. He was standing about a metre in front of and to the side of the Stargate. He then lifted up one end of the stick and held it outstretched in front of the Stargate.

"Standing in front of the Stargate when it activates is hazardous to your health." Greer instructed. The Stargate lit up and started rotating. After a moment a bright light lit up within and then leapt out in front of the Stargate. It resembled a giant splash of water but considering how bright it was the crew of Voyager could tell it was some type of energy. The energy retreated back to the Stargate and now resembled the surface of a swimming pool. The view looked odd because what appeared to be water was vertical within the upright Stargate. People then noticed the wooden stick that Greer was holding was a lot shorter. It now only stretched out about thirty centimetres from his hand.

"That whoosh that leapt out is an energy vortex." Called out Dale. "What you see now is the event horizon. If we step through now, we will come out of the Stargate at the other end of the wormhole. But first we need to see if it is safe." Dale looked at Eli who had a remote and a kino. "Your turn Eli." Eli held up the kino in his hand. Eli then lowered his hand, but the kino stayed in place, hovering above the ground. Eli spoke.

"This is what we call a kino. It is a drone with a camera and other sensors. I will now send it through the Stargate to see what is on the other side." Eli pressed a few buttons on the remote and the kino floated toward the Stargate and disappeared into the event horizon. "A video feed is now showing up on my remote and the control panel. Looks okay. It's daytime." Eli pointed to the control panel in front of Dale. "The kino is also analysing the atmosphere such as composition and temperature. It will display the data in a few seconds.

"Data is coming in now." Announced Dale. "Nitrogen, Oxygen, Carbon-dioxide. Breathable atmosphere. Temperature and gravity similar to Earth. There is a lake about a hundred metres away. Sensors say it is water. The planet looks safe to go. Good news. We get to go through the Stargate."

"The one-way warning bit. Tell them." Young reminded Dale.

"Oh crap. I almost forgot. The Stargate is always just one way." All crewmembers of Voyager suddenly looked at Dale incredulously. "What I mean is, right now the wormhole is outgoing. We can safely visit the planet. If we want to come back, we must disengage the wormhole and then reactivate it at the other end. The remote Eli has can do that. Under no circumstances are you to travel the wrong way through the wormhole or you will cease to exist. There won't even be any body to bury. Only radio waves are two-way, that is how we are receiving this data."

"Get ready. This is it. We are leaving now." Young called out. Young turned to 2nd Lieutenant Vanessa James. "Have a second team come through with water barrels to get as much of that lake water as we can. Send them through in five minutes." Young turned back to the Voyager crew. "One last thing. Walk through at a steady pace and keep walking down and off the ramp on the other side. No stopping. The person behind you might get pushed back into the Stargate and disappear. Let's go." Everett Young then walked into the Stargate, followed by about a dozen people from Destiny. Harry Kim and Janeway were standing beside Dale watching Everett and the others coming out of the Stargate and walking down the ramp on the video feed on the control panel.

"Cool." Said Harry.

"Let's go." Announced Janeway. Janeway and the others followed the Destiny crew walking toward the Stargate. They were all nervous as they were approaching it, but they reminded themselves that they have been beamed hundreds of times using the transporters on Voyager. So they all went right ahead and walked into the event horizon…

…and found themselves walking down the ramp on the other side in bright sunlight.

"Keep walking. Let the others through." Announced Everett Young. In a moment they were standing at the bottom of the ramp. Ten people were from Destiny and 16 people were from Voyager. Everett talked through the radio. "We can all breathe okay. It's okay to deactivate the wormhole. We'll report back in twenty minutes."

"Okay. Deactivating wormhole." Came Dale's voice over the radio. They then watched the Stargate deactivate and the wormhole disappear. The people from Voyager noticed the distinct difference from the gloomy Stargate room they were just in and the bright sunlight of the planet they were standing on now. They looked around. They were on a grassy plain. In one direction there were many trees nearby. It looked like they were near the edge of a forest. In the opposite direction, there was a large lake. Above them the sky was blue with a few clouds.

"This looks just like Earth." Remarked Tom Paris.

Matthew Scott agreed. "We've been amazed by how many planets we visit resemble Earth."

The Voyager crew took out their tricorders and started scanning the landscape. Janeway had a larger sub-space communicator and spoke into it.

"Chakotay. Can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear." Chakotay's voice came over the communicator.

"We've gone through the Stargate. Can you tell us where we are?"

"In a second." They heard Chakotay call out to the ensign currently manning the operations console in Harry Kim's absence. "He's transferred the data to my console. Here it is. You are right now 254 light years from Voyager."

"Impressive." Exclaimed Janeway.

Seven agreed. "Most impressive."

Chakotay's voice came over the speaker. "Even if Voyager could warp at maximum speed, it would still take over a month to get there." Although they were already impressed with the Stargate when they found out about it yesterday. Seeing it in action and testing it out was really making it dawn on them what an impressive piece of technology it is.

Harry Kim spoke out loud what everyone was thinking. "If we had Stargates in our universe in our Milky Way galaxy, we wouldn't be stranded."

"Exactly." Replied Janeway. "Seven years ago. Way back when we were first whisked across the galaxy to the Delta Quadrant. Instead of going back the long way, we would have just found the nearest Stargate and reported back to Starfleet what had happened. We would have then explored the Delta Quadrant for a few months and then eventually we would have come back through the Stargate and a relief crew would take over Voyager."

"Now you all know how awesome I felt when the Sikarians briefly teleported me to the edge of the Alpha Quadrant!" Harry exclaimed. "Hundreds of light years just like that!"

"You gotta admit. This is a nice toy." B'Elanna remarked.

"This is it." Harry pointed out. "We've always been searching for a quick way home. I knew it was always possible we'd find another alternative to the Spatial Trajector that the Sikarians had. I believe this is it! The Trajector could send people 40,000 light years. Eli said all you had to do to increase the range of the Stargate was to give it more power."

"And the range of the Stargate can leave even the Trajector for dead." Added Tom.

"You appear to have forgotten one major detail." Tuvok pointed out. The others all stopped talking. They knew what he meant. Tuvok continued talking anyway. "There are no Stargates on our Earth." They all stared at each other in silence for several seconds.

"Party pooper." Said Tom.

"There must be some way we could use the Stargate." Harry thought out loud, refusing to give up. They all looked at the Stargate deep in thought as it suddenly lit up. A few seconds later an energy vortex burst out of it, then settled back into the event horizon. They then watched people come out of it. They were wheeling barrels on trolleys down the ramp and then onward in the direction of the lake. Everett Young came over to Janeway and the others.

"You know, a lot of people see the chance to visit a planet away from Destiny as shore leave. Feel free to enjoy the view and the sunshine."

"We are." Janeway said, pointing toward the others. People from both Destiny and Voyager had wandered down to the lake. "We're just impressed with the Stargate."

"So are we. Even though we can't safely open a Stargate all the way back to Earth without possibly blowing ourselves up. Even the newer Stargates have trouble doing it."

"Newer Stargates?" asked Harry.

"We'll tell you all about them later. But first I need to talk to Janeway."

"Shoot." Said Janeway.

"A few things. First, I and the others from Destiny who had dinner last night on Voyager feel guilty about the ten-course meal we had compared to the rest of the crew. We're dealing with our water shortage right now but as for our food shortage…we need to do something for the others."

"We'll see what we can do." Replied Janeway.

"We're not asking you to make dinner for all of us. We do have a kitchen on Destiny and some of us are great cooks. If it's easier for you to send over some ingredients, we can cook it ourselves."

"We'll look into it."

"Second, on Voyager we've only seen the Transporter room and the Mess Hall. What I'm proposing is a tour of Voyager for our crew. In return we can offer a tour of Destiny for your crew as well as more trips through the Stargate."

"I believe we can manage that."

"Third, we have an injured crew member." Young and Janeway continued to discuss arrangements between the two crews. Harry Kim, Seven and Tuvok had since walked over to the Stargate and were scanning it with their tricorders. Tom Paris and B'Elanna had wandered off in the direction of the lake. The good news about watching the Destiny crew replenish their water supplies is it showed the Stargate activate several times. It gave Harry, Seven and Tuvok ample opportunity to scan the device and see it in action while the Destiny crew walked into and out of the Stargate several times with the water barrels.

Eventually it was time to leave. Everyone was in good spirits. They had spent over an hour on a planet on a sunny day with a great landscape and lake. The Voyager crew got to check out the Stargate and see it in action and Destiny no longer had a water shortage.

When they were all back on Destiny Everett Young had walked over to an intercom and spoke.

"Lisa Park, report to the Gate room." Young looked around the room. The Voyager crew all seemed impressed with what the Stargate can do. They had a hard time believing that a moment ago they were on a planet over 250 light years away. They were all converging in the centre of the room, getting ready to be beamed back to Voyager.

"How about we start the tours after lunch. How does 2pm sound?" Janeway asked.

"Good to me. We'll need to have several tours, so the entire crews of both ships get to check out the other ship." Young replied.

"We can do that. I'll be back at 2." Said Janeway. Janeway then tapped her commbadge. "Beam the first group of eight back. Not including me." A moment later eight Voyager crew members dematerialised. Just then Lisa Park walked into the room tapping the floor with a cane.

"Janeway, this is Lisa Park. Lisa, this is Captain Kathryn Janeway."

"Hi." Said Lisa.

"Hello." Said Kathryn.

"Guess what? You're going with Janeway and her crew to Voyager." Everett told Lisa.

"Really? Why?" Asked Lisa.

"You'll see." Replied Everett Young.

"Beam the second group of people over now including the lady standing right in front of me." Ordered Janeway over her commbadge. The rest of Janeway's people, including Janeway and Lisa Park, dematerialised and vanished. Everett looked around at the people who were still in the gate room who were looking back at him.

"She'll see." He said to them. "Hopefully."

* * *

Why has Lisa Park been sent to Voyager? Find out…next chapter! Also, the two crews get to check out each other's spaceships.


	8. Chapter 8 - Touring Destiny and Voyager

Sorry about the long wait between chapters. At least this is the longest chapter I've done yet. Also, just wait until you see how the Destiny crew react to the Holodeck.

* * *

**Chapter 8 – Touring Destiny and Voyager**

**Voyager – Sick Bay**

A crew member had led Lisa Park to sick bay. The doctor had ordered Lisa to lie back on the biobed. Lisa thought the voice sounded familiar but couldn't place it. The Doctor removed a smaller scanner in the shape of a small cylinder from the medical tricorder and started scanning her eyes with it.

"Now tell me what happened to your eyes." The doctor asked.

"I was blinded when Destiny went through a star. This star was much hotter than the average star and Destiny's shields had trouble holding up. I was trapped in the dome room on Destiny which has a transparent roof. It wasn't able to hold back all the glare and I was blinded."

"Destiny went through a star?"

"Destiny has to, to refuel."

"Of course." The doctor replied. It sounded to Lisa that the Doctor didn't entirely believe her, but she decided not to convince him. Then she remembered. "Oh, crap! Don't tell anyone on Voyager that Destiny can travel through stars, okay? It's supposed to be a secret."

"If you say so." The Doctor replied sarcastically. Yep, Lisa realised. The Doctor doesn't believe her. At least the secret is safe. Everett gets to show off to the people on Voyager how Destiny refuels. Where had she heard the Doctor's voice before?

* * *

**Destiny – Control Interface Room**

"Now this is the Ship's Control Centre. This is the closest to what I believe you call Engineering." Announced Lt. Matthew Scott as he, Ronald Greer and fifteen Voyager crew members walked into the room which consisted of four computers arranged in a circle all facing the centre of the room. In the centre of the room was a messy contraption of computer equipment. "Before we gained access to the bridge, this is where we accessed the ship's systems." Dr. Nicholas Rush was already there tapping away at one of the computers when they all walked in. "As the bridge is usually full of people, the control centre has since become a quieter place to work on the ship's systems. As Rush is attempting to do now." Matthew gestured to Rush. "This is Doctor Nicholas Rush. Although he's a doctor, he's not a medical doctor. He's a scientist."

"Hello. It's a pleasure to meet you all." Rush said in a deadpan voice. "I'll be touring Voyager later in the afternoon."

"For several months we were locked out of the bridge." Informed Matthew. "Although we were locked out of navigation and other core systems, we were able to access most of the other systems here. Hey Rush, see if you can activate the holo-display. The one showing the course of Destiny through the galaxies."

Rush pressed a few buttons and a display appeared in thin air. On the screen was a line which went from dot to dot.

"Each dot is a galaxy." Explained Matthew. "The mileage of Destiny leaves Voyager for dead."

"How old is Destiny?" asked Harry Kim.

"That's a good question. We're not sure. We believe it could be anywhere from hundreds of thousands of years to over a million years old. We do believe it was built on Earth a really long time ago." Replied Matthew.

"But isn't your history fairly similar to ours?" asked Tom Paris. "If the Ancients were on your Earth in the past, how come your Earth isn't ridiculously advanced now?"

"The Ancients abandoned Earth a long time ago. They lived in Antarctica at a time when it wasn't frozen. Most of the technology disappeared when they left. We only found one single outpost of theirs several years ago. Let's move on. Even though we only have access to about a third of the ship, it's still a big ship." Matthew Scott left the Control Interface Room, followed by fifteen people from Voyager. Ronald Greer took up the rear, making sure nobody wandered off.

"Don't worry about Rush back there." Matthew added after they left the room. "We've actually caught him on a good day."

"I heard that!" Called out Rush.

People from both ships had been separated into groups of fifteen while they tour each other's spaceships. Matthew Scott and Ronald Greer were leading a group of fifteen people from Voyager through Destiny. Dale Volker and Adam Brody were leading a second group of fifteen Voyager crew members elsewhere on the ship. Dale and Adam had led the group in a different direction out of the gate room to where Matthew and Ronald had taken theirs.

* * *

**Voyager - Engineering**

Over on Voyager, there were two groups of fifteen people being led on a tour through the many decks of Voyager. Tuvok and Marla Gilmore led one group of fifteen members of Destiny through the corridors of Voyager. Marla was glad to have something different to do. She had been given mainly menial tasks ever since she had survived the destruction of the previous ship she had served on, the USS Equinox. They all emerged into Engineering. Among the fifteen people from Destiny were Eli Wallace, Chloe Armstrong and Camile Wray.

Eli was the first to exclaim with a whistle and say "Cool!"

"This is Engineering." Announced Tuvok. "It's seen better days, but it should be fully functional within a week."

"You lot have good timing." B'Elanna called out to the group who had just entered. "We're about to try to reactivate the warp core. Seven, Vorik, you ready?"

"Ready." They both replied.

"Do it! Reactivate now." Ordered B'Elanna. All three of them started pressing switches on their consoles. Then everybody saw the large cylinder at the other end of the room glow and start pulsing blue. Eli realised that cylinder must contain some type of energy.

"Exactly what type of power source is that?" Asked Eli.

"A warp core is a reactor that uses the annihilation of matter and anti-matter to provide energy to power a starship." Answered Tuvok.

"Anti-matter." Eli repeated.

"Dilithium crystals are required to control the reaction." Tuvok added.

Eli had noticed the fusion reactor sitting a few meters away with several cables leading out of it. The cables disappeared into the nearby walls and under consoles.

"What is that black box over there?" asked Eli.

"That is a fusion reactor." Replied Seven of Nine. "I constructed it myself."

"That was powering Voyager while the warp core was down?" asked Eli.

"Correct." Answered Seven.

"What kind of power does that generate?" Eli asked Seven. Seven answered his question. Chloe was listening to Seven but she didn't understand the terms she was using. She looked at Eli and he seemed to know what she was talking about.

"That's about twenty times the power of what our best nuclear power station can generate back on Earth. Our Earth, that is." Surmised Eli, thinking out loud. "What is more powerful, a fusion reactor or a warp core?"

"A warp-core. By several magnitudes." Replied Seven.

"So, if you hadn't built this fusion reactor, Voyager would have been completely without power when the warp core was shut down?" surmised Eli.

"No. Voyager has another two small backup fusion reactors in case the warp core goes down." Seven filled him in. "One of them kicked in automatically. But the one I built myself can generate a lot more power than the stock standard ones that came with Voyager."

"How long did it take you to build this?" Asked Eli.

"Two days." Answered Seven matter-of-factly.

Eli's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"That's enough Eli." Said Camile Wray. "Let them continue with the tour." Eli became quiet. It wasn't because Camile told him to, it was because several possibilities had revealed themselves in what he had just learned and he was thinking through all the ramifications. Tuvok and Marla were now taking turns describing the features of Engineering. This was over Chloe's head, so she turned to Eli. She knew Eli enough to know he was now trying really hard to listen to everything Tuvok and Marla was saying while also going through what he had learned so far about reactors. He was doing calculations in his head.

* * *

**Destiny – Bridge**

Dale Volker and Adam Brody led the second group of fifteen Voyager crew members onto the Bridge of Destiny. Other crew members of Destiny were manning the bridge while Destiny's senior crew were touring Voyager. Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay surveyed the bridge.

"I like it." Observed Janeway.

"It's got style." Agreed Chakotay. "What do you think, Seven? Efficient?"

"The design is…unique." Surmised Seven, managing to avoid using the word 'efficient'.

"It's an antique." Added Chakotay. "Just like most antiques, it is a classic."

"That is the Captain's chair." Announced Adam Brody, pointing to the chair in the middle. "And over here is navigation, helm, communications and systems." Adam continued, pointing to the other seats around the Bridge.

"Now this is cruising in style!" Called out Neelix. "It's got the look! This makes Voyager's bridge look a bit bland, doesn't it?"

"Voyager can hold it's own." Replied Janeway quickly.

"Umm, Seven, can you make much sense out of these consoles?" asked Chakotay.

"Some of them. These others, I can only theorise." Replied Seven. "Destiny appears to be able to do things that Voyager can not."

"As well as being faster." Added Janeway. "If the race that built Destiny also built the Stargates, I'd assume they're way beyond us."

"Indeed." Replied Seven.

"I'm wondering if this co-operation continues to go well between the two crews, that maybe we'll be able to share some technology." Pointed out Chakotay.

"That is a topic we will be discussing with them later. Tonight actually, at dinner." Janeway turned to Dale and Adam. "We'll be inviting about thirty people to dinner tonight on Voyager. We'll also be supplying food for dinner here on Destiny."

"Wow. Okay then. We'll tell them." Said Adam.

"That's why we invited you to come with us on one of the first tours to Destiny." Janeway said to Neelix. "So you'll have the rest of the afternoon to prepare for dinner."

"Well at least we've been able to get the replicators fully functional again. Even using both the replicators and our existing food stocks, we'll only be able to supply food to both crews for about a week before we'll need to replenish them." The Voyager crew had learned a long time ago not to completely rely on the food replicators. They had food stocks for situations like this. They just weren't expecting to be feeding two crews. The food stocks they had picked up from a friendly humanoid race they encountered a month ago wasn't quite as good as the feast they had last night, more comparable to TV dinners, but judging by the food they saw in Destiny's Mess Hall, they knew Destiny's crew wouldn't complain.

"We'll work that out later." Janeway said.

"Thanks to the damage to Destiny and the number of unpressurised compartments, the only thing left to show you is the Hydroponics Lab." Announced Dale.

* * *

**Voyager - Holodeck**

Tuvok, Marla Gilmore, Eli Wallace, Chloe Armstrong, Camile Wray and twelve other Destiny crew members walked into a large empty room which was criss-crossed with grid lines on the floor, walls and ceiling.

"This is the holodeck." Announced Marla. "Of course, we leave the best for last. This room allows us to create or recreate any environment we can imagine. I can keep describing what it can do but it will be much easier to simply show you than to tell you. Computer, activate program Rainforest 341. Everybody watched as the room seemed to shimmer away and everybody found themselves in the middle of a rainforest. They were surrounded by large trees with long, green grass and they could hear birds chirping in the trees. It wasn't just the scenery. The temperature seemed to have dropped about a dozen degrees, the scent of eucalyptus and wet leaves was in the air and the atmosphere was slightly damp as if it had just rained.

"Wow!" Exclaimed Chloe. The expressions on everybody's faces seemed to echo her feelings.

"We weren't teleported, were we?" asked Camile.

"No. We're still in the holodeck." Answered Marla. "What you're seeing is a combination of holograms and force fields. The environmental settings have also been altered to match a rainforest."

"We have thousands of different programs which can be accessed." Added Tuvok. "Including Earth from different time periods and also other planets."

"We have a rather popular program which the whole crew uses often called Fair Haven." Announced Marla. "Computer, activate Fair Haven." The environment around them changed. The Destiny crew founds themselves standing on a dirt trail out in the country. They looked around and saw wooden fences, paddocks and a village in the distance.

"We can check out the village if you want." Offered Marla.

"Very funny." Said Chloe.

"What do you mean?" Asked Marla.

"We'll start walking and then go bang into the wall." Replied Chloe.

"Try it." Suggested Marla.

Chloe started walking but with one arm outstretched in front of her. When she walked about 15 metres, she realised there was no wall.

"Hey, where'd the wall go?" Chloe asked.

"That's the trick." Called out Marla. "The wall hasn't actually moved, but neither have you. Although you look like you're all the way over there, you're only a few metres away from us. You're in a bubble. Your own holographic bubble. As most of us are still standing close together, we're in a larger bubble, but as soon as someone walks away from the others, they enter their own bubble. We can't even tell. It just looks like we're standing outside on this dirt trail surrounded by grassy fields. There's also a moving forcefield under her feet and artificial gravity which keeps her from hitting the wall."

"We can't see these holographic bubbles?" Asked Matthew.

"Well, technically we're looking right at them. But they're creating an illusion to make us think we're in a countryside right now." Explained Marla.

"The computing power to render all that must be off the charts." Realised Eli. He looked around at the grass blowing in the winds. "I can't see any flickering or pixelization."

"Voyager is from the 24th century." Stated Tuvok.

"Hey, other people are playing this game." Chloe said. She was pointing to people walking around from the nearby village. Also, a man and a woman were walking along the dirt trail heading for them. They walked past Chloe heading for the main group.

"Oh, they're characters in this program. They're not Voyager crew members." Informed Marla. "Let's talk to them." As the two villagers approached them, the male spoke first.

"What is going on here? Are you all lost?"

"Hi. We're here to see the village." Greeted Marla. "Who might you be?"

"I'm Davin, and this is my wife Caitlin." Answered Davin. All the Destiny crew members were trying to get their head around the fact that Davin and Caitlin weren't real. They look real. But they're not. Chloe, who had followed the couple, walked up beside Caitlin. Chloe poked Caitlin in the shoulder.

"She feels real." Chloe remarked.

"Hey!" squealed Caitlin. Camile also poked Caitlin. "Stop it!" Other members of Destiny started poking both Caitlin and Davin in the shoulders and arms.

"Cut it out, you lot!" shouted Davin. Davin raised a fist preparing to punch someone. Everybody backed off.

"They are characters, but I assure you they feel just as real as you or me." Clarified Marla.

Eli thought of a question but then quickly realised he should NOT ask that question.

"So what kind of interactions…" Started Matthew Scott "…can you have with a holographic character?" Everybody except Tuvok started snickering and trying not to laugh. Yep, Eli thought. That is the question he was smart enough NOT to ask. Chloe glared at Matthew. Camile rolled her eyes.

"That's not what I meant!" Matthew stammered, realising he has foot-in-mouth disease.

"I believe we are behind schedule on our tour." Announced Tuvok with a very timely interruption. "If you would follow me, I will lead you back to the transporter room. Computer, end program." Everybody watched as Fair Haven, Davin and Caitlin vanished and they were once again back in the room criss-crossed with gridlines on the floor, walls and ceiling. Marla led them out of the holodeck. They were walking down a corridor when they heard a lady scream…

"I can see!" That voice sounded familiar.

"Is that…" Camille started.

"Lisa?" Chloe answered. They all hurried off in the direction of that voice.

"Please stay with the group." Advised Tuvok. Everybody ignored him. They all found an open doorway and started walking through it. They all saw Lisa Park sitting up on a bed smiling. Lisa saw them and called out…

"Hey everyone! I can see!"

"Yay!" Everyone replied. Chloe, Camile and the other female members rushed over and started hugging Lisa. Then everybody saw the doctor.

"Richard Woolsey?!" Camile exclaimed. "There is no way you could possibly be here!" Everybody looked as shocked as Camile.

"My eyesight is still blurry. You mean Woolsey from the IOA? I thought that voice was familiar." asked Lisa.

"No, I am not Richard Woolsey! I am the doctor." Stammered the EMH. "I am an EMH. Emergency Medical Hologram. I'm assuming you're from Destiny."

"Yes, we are." Camille said. "For some reason you bear an uncanny resemblance to Richard Woolsey who works for the IOA."

"My looks are based on my creator. His name is Dr Lewis Zimmerman." Explained the Doctor. Chloe then poked him in the arm.

"Oh boy." Said the Doctor in exasperation.

"All right. That's enough. No poking anyone, holograms or not." Instructed Camille. "Just face facts. Holograms that look human feel just as human as you or I."

"How did you not recognise him sooner, Lisa?" asked Chloe.

"My vision is still blurry. I only met Mr Woolsey once before we left for Icarus."

"Do you mean Richard P. Woolsey? Worked with the Government. Most of it classified?" Asked the Doctor.

"Yes. That would be him." Replied Camile.

"I've just accessed historical records. Richard Woolsey is an ancestor of Lewis Zimmerman."

"I guess that would explain it." Said Camile.

"That would be the Richard Woolsey from their Earth." Realised Eli. "Richard Woolsey has a counterpart. Had a counterpart. Hang on, still has a counterpart. The year is 2014."

"Present tense to us." Matthew clarified. "Past tense to Voyager."

"Actually, it would be present tense to Voyager too at the moment because they've gone back in time." Corrected Eli.

"I wonder how many others of us have counterparts?" Asked Chloe.

"Our tour has concluded. We have more tours scheduled. We will leave for the transporter room now." Ordered Tuvok.

"Lisa Park will remain here for observation. Her vision will clear up over the next few days. She might be joining you for dinner tonight." Stated the Doctor.

"Bye guys." Called out Lisa.

"Bye." Everybody said in unison as they left Sick Bay. They headed down a corridor and eight of them managed to fit into a turbolift. In the turbolift Chloe turned to Matthew and said sternly,

"No poking any holographic characters, understood?"

"Um, no…of course not!" Replied Matthew. The others in the turbolift managed to stifle any snickering this time.

Destiny is over twice the size of Voyager, but because they only had access to about one third of Destiny, the tours on both ships were concluding at roughly the same time. The Destiny crew members who were touring Voyager were beamed back to Destiny. Likewise, the two groups of Destiny met up again in the Gate Room and were beamed back to Voyager. Then the next tours commenced.

* * *

**Destiny – Control Interface Room**

While the second lot of tours were underway, Eli Wallace had wandered to the Control Interface Room. He accessed one of the computer terminals and was working through calculations and going over the schematics of the Stargate. Nicholas Rush found him there.

"What are you working on?" Rush asked.

"Just going over some information I learned on Voyager." Eli replied.

"Care to be a little more specific?"

"The capability of Destiny, Voyager, power requirements, solutions to certain problems."

"A little bit more specific?"

"I know how to get Voyager home."

"Do you want to explain?"

Eli then explained how to get Voyager, or more specifically, the crew of Voyager back to their Earth.

"Great! What about us?" asked Rush.

"Us? I guess they would be grateful."

"Oh Eli Eli Eli. One of the things you have yet to learn about life is that some people say they are grateful but that doesn't pay the bills. You never, EVER, give anything away for free. They'll just take it, walk away and you'll never see them again."

"You want me to leave them stranded?" Asked Eli.

"No. But this would be one of those occasions where you would make a deal with the other party."

"You mean an exchange of equal value." Added Eli.

"Exactly. It's the only way to get ahead in life."

"I am working on a way that Voyager could help us but I'm still working on the calculations."

"Then get those calculations sorted out. But you must get something in return. Now I'm off to see Voyager. The third lot of tours will commence soon." Rush walked out of the room and passed Chloe who was walking in.

"What was that all about?" Asked Chloe.

"Just Rush being Rush."

"What are you working on?"

"I just need to confirm a few details."

"You figured out something while we were on Voyager. I could tell. You had that 'light-bulb' moment when we were in Engineering. Penny for your thoughts?"

"Don't go telling anyone but I've figured out how Destiny and Voyager can work together to get each other home. To our respective Earths."

Chloe looked at Eli speechless.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed the explanation of the holodeck. I'm not too sure if it works like that. I haven't been able to find a detailed explanation of how it works on the internet. So nobody can contradict me. We've never seen anyone walk into a wall in the holodeck. I do remember seeing an episode of ST:TNG where somebody threw an object which bounced off a wall.

Next chapter – Replicators and Eli's plan for getting home revealed.


	9. Chapter 9 - Dinner, Stories and a Plan

**Chapter 9 - Dinner, Stories and a Plan**

**Voyager – Corridor**

Tamara Johansen and Vanessa James walked along a corridor heading for the Mess Hall.

"I still can't get over that holodeck! Wow!" Exclaimed Vanessa.

"Yeah. That was really something." Replied TJ. "I wouldn't mind having another go at that."

"Yeah! I'd love to see what else it can do!" The door to the Mess Hall opened revealing several dozen people from both crews. TJ realized this was apparently a much larger gathering to get the two crews to get to know each other. Every seat will be occupied for dinner this time. She heard that Voyager was also providing dinner for the crew members still left on Destiny. Over a dozen members of Voyager had already beamed over there with dinner to Destiny's Mess Hall. A few of them were going to help the cooks on Destiny cook the food and eat it there. So Destiny's Mess Hall will look similar to the Mess Hall on Voyager. It looks like Captain Janeway and Colonel Young are going all out to have the two crews interact with each other.

TJ recognised half the faces in the Mess Hall. That's because half the people there were from Destiny. She only recognised a few faces from Voyager's crew members. She recognised a couple that she saw when she toured Voyager earlier this afternoon. She also recognised a few more people who were in the tours that visited sickbay on Destiny while she was there. She also recognised…

"Lisa!" TJ called out. Lisa waved to her from a distance. TJ and Vanessa rushed over to her. "I heard that you can see now!"

"Of course! So you're Vanessa?" Lisa said, pointing to TJ. "And you're TJ?" She asked, pointing to Vanessa. They laughed. "Actually, I can tell you apart. The Doctor said my vision will take a few days to clear up completely. Have you seen the cook? He's an alien. He's about the friendliest alien we've seen so far."

"Well, if he's the cook, then thank God he's friendly!" Pointed out Vanessa.

"Good point." Added TJ.

After about another five minutes of talking to other members from Destiny and a few people they recognised from Voyager, they were herded over to their seats. It was only the senior officers from both ships who were at the main table now. Eli and Chloe, who were at that table at last night's dinner, had been replaced by Dale Volker and Tamara Johansen. Everett Young had to put some thought into who the senior officers were from Destiny. Destiny had a complicated mix of soldiers and civilian contractors. He wisely decided although Nicholas Rush was more senior than Dale Volker, Dale would get to sit at the main table instead. As before, people from Destiny would be at one side of each table with people from Voyager on the other side.

As dinner got underway, it became obvious that this was going to be rowdier than last night's dinner. Both crews were happy to find other human beings to talk to. It felt to Destiny somewhat as if they were finally being rescued by people from Earth, even if they were from a parallel Earth. They were hoping they would be able to provide enough assistance to help them get home. The people on Voyager had only had each other to talk to for over six years. Finding other human beings were rare in the Delta Quadrant. Mostly they found aliens and humanoid aliens, even though some were indistinguishable from human beings. Everybody on Voyager knew everyone by name. They were glad to have unfamiliar faces to talk to.

The dinners they were given resembled TV dinners, but as predicted, compared to what they had to put up with on Destiny, this was like being at a five-class restaurant. Add to this was the fact that although the Destiny crew could eat food through somebody else's body on Earth using the Communication Stones, their senses are dulled a bit through the mind transfer, so the taste is always just a little bit off. Everett Young had ordered the crew of Destiny to secrecy over the Communication Stones. Just like how Destiny refuels, Young wants to surprise members of the Voyager crew with a demonstration on how it works. Young was also waiting for the go ahead from Stargate Command before showing them the Communication Stones.

As Kathryn Janeway and Everett Young had hoped, both crews were talking to each other. After awhile the conversation had turned to comparing stories of adventures they had been on. As it turned out, both ships had some rather weird stories to tell.

The Destiny crew told of several people who had decided to leave Voyager and stay behind on a planet. This planet had raised eyebrows because apparently the planet, as well as the entire solar system it was in, wasn't there when the seed ships passed through millions of years earlier. The planet couldn't have formed that quickly and should still be molten rock. But this planet closely resembled Earth. A shuttle was left behind with the colonists. Destiny flew on and left the galaxy. Everybody on Destiny were convinced there was no way they'd ever see them again. Several months later in the next galaxy the people on Destiny were surprised when the shuttle suddenly appeared flying right alongside Destiny. Somehow the colonists who were left behind on the planet had somehow managed to catch up to them. The shuttle they were left with wasn't even capable of leaving the planet's atmosphere, much less travel to another galaxy. But after the shuttle was examined after it had docked with Destiny, it turned out the shuttle was brand new as if it had just been built. The crew had no memory of most of their time on the planet and had no clue how they had caught up to Destiny. They soon started to get their memories back, but at roughly the same time they started dying one by one. They remembered dying on the planet, one from an accident, the rest from hypothermia. Soon, all the colonists who had stayed behind on the planet had died the same way on Destiny. Apparently, a mysterious force had resurrected the colonists after they died on the planet and returned them to Destiny. Although they soon died the same way, for some reason, they were only returned to Destiny so they could say goodbye to the other crew members. This had spooked the Voyager crew members. Other stories from Destiny were told.

Voyager also had some stories to tell. One story was when Voyager was stuck in the orbit of a planet by its magnetic field. The planet had an incredible time-dilation rate. Time was travelling about several hundred times faster on the planet than in outer space. The inhabitants were still in the stone age when Voyager first appeared. Voyager was only trapped for a few hours, but the planet had developed technology comparable to Voyager. This was demonstrated when they had constructed their own spaceships which they used to free Voyager from the planet's magnetic field.

The talk soon turned to powerful entities. The talk about the solar system that had sprung out of nowhere soon led to mentioning the Q continuum and Ascended beings. They appeared to be able to do anything. They were, however, limited by their own version of the Prime Directive which enforced a strict non-interference rule with lesser beings. This rule had been breached, to various degrees, by both powerful races. They wondered if they had any connection to each other.

Eventually the talk turned back to the Stargate. The Voyager crew were interested in what the Stargates can do. They talked about the symbols which were used as coordinates, the dialling sequence, the range, limitations, power requirements, the DHD which stood for Dialling Home Device, the kino remote which doubled as a DHD and the different types of Stargates. The Sikarians race were mentioned which had a device called the spatial trajectory which could teleport humans 40,000 light years. The Sikarians refused to share the technology but it looks like the Stargates could be a very nice substitute.

Chloe was seated between Matthew Scott and Eli Wallace. Ronald Greer was on the other side of Matthew. Eli was happy because Seven of Nine had joined them at the table. Janeway had insisted that Seven should interact with both crews at this dinner. Seven needs the practice at social interacting even more than the Destiny crew. The talk of Stargates had prompted Chloe to elbow Eli in the ribs.

"Go on, Eli. Tell them your plan." Chloe prompted.

"My plan isn't finalised yet. I've still got some details to work out." Eli replied.

"So what? Both crews are here. Now's the best time."

"I'm pretty sure they'll want me to fine tune the plan some more before telling them."

Adam Brody, who was sitting on the other side of Eli, interrupted. "Is this your plan for getting back to Earth?"

"Yes. How did you know?" Asked Eli.

"I overheard Rush talking to Young about it."

"You better tell your plan now." Chloe advised. "Rush might try to steal your idea."

"He wouldn't do that." Eli responded. "Would he?" Eli, Chloe, Adam and Matthew thought about it for several seconds. "On second thought I better tell my plan now. I only told Rush a very brief summary of it and only how we could help Voyager get home." Seven and the other members of Voyager who were at their table were suddenly very curious at hearing that. Eli continued. "It looks like I'll have to tell all. My plan is more detailed now."

"I know they'll have people giving speeches during dessert. That will be the best time to tell." Advised Chloe.

"It will give me time to psyche myself up for it." Said Eli. They continued to eat dinner. Eventually, it was time for dessert. They were expecting Neelix and a couple of his assistants to serve dessert. But then Janeway and Young started tapping their spoons on their wine glasses.

"Everybody! Quiet please!" Janeway called out. People got the message and quieted down. "I'm glad you're all enjoying this feast. It's time for dessert. But instead of Neelix serving dessert, we have another surprise. We have a secret that we've been keeping from you. It's a piece of technology that's been a godsend to people in the 24th century. We call it a replicator."

Tuvok suddenly sensed a wave of apprehension and fear encompass most of the Destiny crew.

Janeway continued. "Food replicators allow us to create any type of food that we have stored in our data banks. We just ask the replicator what we want and it will create it. I'll demonstrate." Janeway walked up to a replicator nested in the wall. "Cheesecake." Everybody watched as a plate materialised on the replicator pad along with a slice of cheesecake and a spoon on it. Janeway lifted up the plate. She grabbed the spoon, used it to cut a slice of cheesecake, then eat it. "Mmm, mmm." Janeway hummed in approval. "It is voice activated. We have limited resources devoted to the food replicator, but we have enough for everyone to have one slice of any type of dessert you can think of. Go on, try it."

Tuvok sensed a wave of relief sweep over the Destiny crew members. He realised they clearly thought a replicator was something else. They all stood up and moved over to the replicator, getting in a line. One by one they tried it, all watching in amazement as dessert appeared in front of them along with a plate and kitchen utensil. They ordered cake, cheesecake, pudding and ice cream among other dessert. The dessert appeared perfect in every which way. It occurred to them it was the best dessert they had had in five years. Some of the women had a tear coming to their eyes.

"So why exactly are their limitations on the Replicators?" Dale asked at the seniors table between mouthfuls of cheesecake.

"You can explain that one Tom." Janeway said to Tom Paris. Tom Paris had to wait a few seconds until he finished his current mouthful of chocolate pudding.

"You see, because we're isolated so far from home, we've had to make concessions." Explained Tom. "As much as we love the food replicators, the things is, on our long journey home, we sometimes find ourselves travelling through hostile space. Voyager has seen it's fair share of combat. We have no backup, no way to call reinforcements. So, we came up with a different strategy. Replicators on Starfleet spaceships usually have an even mix, about fifty-fifty, between being used for replicating spare parts and replicating food. We decided we had to tip that. Replicators are now used for about eighty per-cent spare parts and twenty percent for food. This allows us to repair Voyager and rebuild shuttlecraft fairly easily. Crew members are given replicator rations. When we run out, we have to come to the mess hall for some more conventional food provided by Neelix."

Chakotay added. "Also, since Seven came on board a few years ago with her expertise on Borg technology, her Borg enhancements have made Voyager more powerful now than when it first left the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards seven years ago."

After most of the people had finished dessert, Janeway again tapped her spoon against her wine glass. People quieted down. "I can tell you're all enjoying dessert. It looks like tonight's dinner is going great. I just got into contact with our crew mates on the Destiny and dinner is also going just as great over there in their mess hall as well.

"It looks like our plan to share technology is going to go ahead. We're not too sure how the Stargate could help us. Apparently, it needs another Stargate at the other end to link up to. Even if there are no Stargates in the Milky Way galaxy, hopefully our shared technology will shave years off our return trip to Earth." Announced Janeway proudly.

"Years?" asked Eli softly so only people at his table could hear.

"How long will your plan take?" asked Chloe.

"Months." Answered Eli.

"Tell them now." Prompted Chloe.

"I'm not too sure."

"Hey Janeway!" Ronald Greer called out. "Eli has a way of getting both ships home in months, not years." Everybody in the room looked at Ronald, then Eli.

"Greer!" Stammered Eli, realising he's been put on the spot.

"No time like the present." Greer remarked.

"If you have an idea on how to get us home quicker, we'd love to hear it." Offered Janeway.

"My plan isn't finalized yet." Said Eli. "The plan we eventually end up with will most likely have a few differences to the plan I have in my head now depending on what we encounter."

"So what? We could do with some good news." Countered Janeway.

"Go on Eli." Called out Young, still seated at his table. "We know there will undoubtedly be some changes. Tell us what you've come up with so far."

"Okay." Eli Relented. "But remember, there's a lot of things I haven't run by you guys first."

"It's a whole lot better then that you tell us now while we're all in a really good mood and drunk." Said Young. A lot of people laughed.

"Stand up. Come around here. Let us all hear." Instructed Janeway. Eli stood up and walked over to the area where Janeway had just walked to which was between the kitchen and the tables. He took a deep breath.

"I know how to combine our technologies to get both crews home, each to their respective Earths." Eli started. He looked around and saw everyone's eyes widen in anticipation. "This will involve teamwork. Basically, if Voyager can get people from the Destiny home, we'll be able to do the same to the people on Voyager." Eli looked at Rush as he was saying that and saw him smile. Apparently Rush likes that he took his advice earlier.

"You want us to get you guys home first?" Asked Chakotay.

"Actually, we'll be running both operations at the same time." Replied Eli.

"Here is the plan. To get the people from Voyager home we will need to take Destiny through that very long wormhole that Voyager discovered. We're hoping if it's safe enough for Voyager, it will be safe enough for Destiny. This will take Destiny to the Milky Way galaxy in your universe." Eli said while looking at some of the Voyager crew members. "I've noticed in the talks we've been having, that we've been calling this universe that we're in now the 'Stargate' Universe. Just because it's full of Stargates. Because there are no Stargates in your universe, but you love to explore space anyway, we will call your universe the 'Star Trek' Universe. This will simplify explanations from here on.

"Now when Destiny gets to the Milky Way galaxy in the Star Trek Universe, there are two possibilities on how we will proceed. One, we'll see if we can detect any Stargates in the Milky Way Galaxy. At the moment Destiny and our kino remotes can only detect Stargates within about a few hundred light years of Destiny. We believe we can increase the range of that to include the whole of the Milky Way galaxy. This will tell us for sure if there are any Stargates at all in the Milky Way galaxy. Now, on the slight chance we do pick up any Stargates, we'll try to dial them. If we get a connection and one of these Stargates is close to Earth, you should be able to contact Earth, or Starfleet, or the Federation using your sub-space communicators. They'll be able to come over to the Stargate and pick you up. You'll all be able to walk through the Stargate and Starfleet will give you a ride home. It looks like Voyager itself will have to stay behind but more likely a relief crew will be sent back through the Stargate to take care of Voyager. Voyager will still be stuck but the crew will only be one Stargate jump away from home."

"So Voyager itself will be left at the Milky Way end of the wormhole?" Asked Janeway.

"Yes. It will take decades for Voyager to travel to Earth, so it will be left behind with a relief crew from Earth." Explained Eli.

"What if there are no Stargates in the Milky Way galaxy?" Asked Tuvok.

"Then we will have to go with the more likely option number two." Answered Eli. "Number two means we go the long way. Destiny happens to be way faster than Voyager. I heard Voyager almost blew up when it managed to keep up with us for only five minutes. But that is Destiny's normal cruising speed. It can also maintain it for days, weeks, months, years even. A trip that will take decades for Voyager will only take months for Destiny. Destiny itself will travel to Earth." Eli looked at the crowd. There were a lot of raised eyebrows from the Destiny crew members and a lot of amazed looks from the Voyager crew members. The Voyager crew members seemed a lot happier.

"So everyone from Voyager will be taking a ride in Destiny all the way to Earth." Contemplated Chakotay out loud.

"Well, actually, not everyone. You've forgotten something. You don't have to come with us…to come with us." Said Eli.

"Come again?" Asked Chakotay.

"The Stargate." Said Dr Nicholas Rush, who was seated at another table.

"Oh, I get it. Destiny is only one Stargate jump away." Realised Tom Paris.

"We put a Stargate on Voyager." Announced Janeway. The way she said it made people realise she'd been thinking about it for awhile.

"Exactly!" Exclaimed Eli. "Both Destiny and Voyager will come through the long wormhole into the Milky Way galaxy, but then Voyager stops there and Destiny keeps going all the way to Earth."

"Voyager has to come through to the Milky Way galaxy, so we'll be able to establish a Stargate connection between Voyager and Destiny." Explained Rush. There was silence for a moment as people thought this through. "We'll be out of beaming range in no time, but not out of Stargate range."

"Well, that explains how the Voyager crew will get to their Earth." Said Young. "Now how do we get home?"

"Well, that involves the Stargates." Explained Eli. "And fusion reactors." Eli was looking at Seven when he said fusion reactors. "You see, in all the research we've been doing, I keep coming to the conclusion that a Stargate wormhole all the way from here to Earth is just too dangerous. It's way too unstable. Earth, our Earth, is billions of light years away. We've only managed to open it once from our end and it malfunctioned.

"Another solution has presented itself. The fusion reactor I saw earlier today in engineering in Voyager has about ten times the power of a nuclear power station on Earth. That's roughly the equivalent of a ZPM."

"No, not really." Rush contradicted.

"It's not like I have a frame of reference. Anyway, Seven said she built it in two days. Seven, does that mean you can build five of them in ten days?" Asked Eli.

"I would run out of material after building another 2 reactors but otherwise yes I could." Replied Seven.

"Destiny has that one covered. Destiny has an extensive database of the planets in this galaxy from the seeder ships that passed through this galaxy a long time ago. All we need to do is tell Destiny what materials we need and it will be able to tell us which planets contain it.

"Back to the Stargates. One long jump is too dangerous. But several shorter jumps would be a whole lot safer. We plug in a fusion reactor to a stargate. We'll be doing this to both Stargates on Voyager and Destiny. We'll also be connecting them to Stargates on various planets. The fusion reactors sole purpose is to extend the range of the Stargate."

"I think I see where you're going with this." Pondered Janeway. "One fusion reactor on each Stargate in each galaxy."

"Steppingstones across a pond." Thought Chloe out loud.

Eli thought for a couple of seconds before saying. "Great metaphor." Chloe smiled.

"Aren't we 40 galaxies away from Earth?" Asked Matthew Scott. "Won't that mean 40 fusion reactors?"

"Actually I'm hoping that a fusion reactor would give us enough range to skip a galaxy or two." Replied Eli. "Maybe 10 or twenty fusion reactors."

"Maybe less than that." Announced Rush. "There's a feature we might need to test out. It could be very helpful."

"And that would be?" Prompted Janeway.

Rush continued. "It's the Stargate that dials the outgoing wormhole that provides the power. But people back at Stargate Command have been working on a theory where the outgoing Stargate only has to provide the power at the beginning to establish the connection. If we could get the receiving Stargate to take over providing the power, it could very well come in handy."

"Good idea." Said Janeway. She turned back to Eli. "Anything else to add Eli."

"Yeah. The power fluctuations on a Stargate. It would be a very good idea if you only plug a fusion reactor to the Stargate that you'll soon have on Voyager. Do not plug the Stargate into your warp core. Your warp core is connected to everything on your ship. A power feedback could be disastrous."

"Disastrous?" Asked Tom Paris.

"Disastrous as in 'boom'!" Replied Eli. He still felt responsible for the malfunction which caused an alternate Destiny to fall into the sun. "One other thing, these two operations would be a whole lot easier if we have some type of officer exchange program between the two ships. The best mechanics from Voyager can help us repair parts of Destiny on its way back to your Earth. The most knowledgeable people on Stargates can be on Voyager. We might only be from the early 21st century, but we know a lot more about the Stargates than you do."

"Good idea. Now I believe everyone will agree with me when I say that is one awesome plan. Two awesome plans actually." Janeway started applauding, soon followed by everyone in the room. People started cheering. Eli was not used to this and didn't know how to react.

"Sit back down and enjoy your dessert. We are going to be busy tomorrow." Said Janeway. Eli did so. Several people patted him on the back as he walked past them back to his seat.

Tuvok could see, and sense that the vibe had really picked up from both crews. For awhile both crews had felt stranded but both crews now had something to look forward to. Tuvok just hoped it wasn't too good to be true.

* * *

Now that the plan has been revealed things are going to pick up. For the past two days the two crews on Voyager and Destiny had just been hanging around getting to know each other. Now they've got a mission and they're going to get cracking!

Edit: Almost forgot to mention, how'd you like my explanation for configuring the replicators more for spare parts than for food? I know the USS Voyager had shortcomings with the food replicators forcing crew members to have replicator rations. When they ran out of rations then they had to go to the mess hall and Neelix to get more conventional food. But all I could find out for the reason for this on the internet was "energy constraints". So now I came up with a reason which also explains how Voyager gets repaired so easily and quickly. No matter how much damage Voyager takes, it's almost always good as new by the next episode. So the replicators have been configured so they're really good at replicating or repairing spare parts so they can more better survive on their own.


	10. Chapter 10 - Hunting for Stargates

**Chapter 10 – Hunting for Stargates**

**Voyager – Briefing Room**

Kathryn Janeway, Chakotay, Tom Paris, B'Elanna Torres, Harry Kim, Tuvok, Neelix and the Doctor all crowded around the briefing table in the Briefing Room. It was a tight fit as they were all seated. Neelix and the Doctor were invited seeing that today's mission involves the new opportunity which presented itself last night at dinner. On the table was a kino and a kino remote.

"So, how are we all feeling by the latest turn of events? Penny for your thoughts?" Asked Janeway.

"Cool!" Blurted our Harry.

"Wow!" Said Tom.

"Sounds great." Said Chakotay.

"Intriguing." Remarked Seven.

"About time we're getting home." Said B'Elanna.

"A most positive turn of events." From an analytic Tuvok.

"Looks like I'm finally going to see Earth." Said Neelix.

"It does indeed look like we'll be going home soon." Said Janeway. "It might be a few days from now, but most likely a few months. But this meeting isn't just to reflect on getting home. There is another venture I'd like to put forward. It involves the Stargate. It's bad enough it looks like we'll be leaving Voyager behind. But there is something else we can take with us. A gift for Starfleet."

"You mean the Stargate itself?" Speculated Chakotay.

"Yes. But the thing is…why stop with just one?" Announced Janeway. Everybody in the room stared at her and thought for several seconds.

"You want to take several Stargates back to Earth?" Asked Harry.

"As many as we are able to." Replied Janeway. "The thing is…all the times we tried to find a shortcut home, how close did we get our fingertips on it, only to have it snatched away from us? The Caretaker Array, the wormhole which was too small, the spatial trajectory that the Sikarians had, even Q. All those chances and we were that close. If there are this many Stargates lying around in this galaxy then will anyone care if we take a few? We haven't even found a planet in this galaxy with intelligent life yet. No-one will miss them as far as we know. The thing is, if we take several of these back with us to the Milky Way galaxy, we can spread them around. If other people are left stranded like we are, it won't be a problem."

"Looks like we'll be taking them on the Destiny seeing as we're leaving Voyager behind." Pointed out Harry Kim.

"Yeah, we'll be asking them about that later today actually." Said Janeway.

"Looks like Starfleet is getting an awesome Christmas present this year." Remarked Tom.

"One other thing, regarding the sharing of technology between Voyager and Destiny. Harry, Seven, you're the experts on time travel. Destiny is from the past but in a parallel universe. Is there any chance sharing technology with them could result in some kind of temporal incursion? I don't want the timeship Relativity breathing down our neck."

"None whatsoever." Replied Harry. "Their present has quite a few differences to our history. They know all about the Stargate. We've never heard of it until a few days ago."

"Also, they already have spacefaring technology. Way beyond what we had back then." Added Chakotay.

"I concur." Agreed Seven.

"Good. Then there's no reason not to help them out." Janeway surmised. "Is there any way we can give them a replicator so they can create their own food?"

"Unfortunately, that's a whole lot easier said than done." Replied Harry. "Our replicators are too well connected to Voyager and the storage banks containing the basic components where the replicators get their food from. If we simply give them a replicator, it won't know where to retrieve the food components to convert it into the food they're requesting. Installing it into Destiny would be next to impossible. The far easier solution is to simply replicate the food on Voyager and transport it to Destiny. Thanks to the Stargates that will soon become fairly easy."

"Do the replicators have the resources to feed everyone on both ships?" Janeway asked.

"No, they do not." Neelix answered. "Nor do we have enough food in storage to feed both crews for more than a week. There is a stopgap solution, however. The planet you were on yesterday. A few people said they could see a forest in the distance. Remember the massive meat leg I gave to the replicator and it managed to divide it up to serve everyone steak? Well, if there are any berries or fruit or any kind of food on that planet we could give it to the replicator food storage banks. The replicators can convert it into any food we require. The replicators always do a better job with fresh material to work with. That should keep the replicators going for at least a month."

"I believe we can make that happen." Said Janeway. "We'll be going back there as soon as we can. Today's mission is to obtain our first stargate. What you see here is what the Destiny crew call a kino and a kino remote." They all looked at the metal sphere and the device on the desk which they've seen interface with the stargate. Currently the device was displaying the same eight stargates that the stargate control panel on the Destiny showed yesterday. Four of them are a different colour, representing the ones which are locked out. The only indication that it gives that a stargate is unsafe to visit. "Harry, take these, grab some engineers to help you and see if you can replicate them. With what we have planned, we're going to need quite a few of these."

"Aye-aye, Captain." Replied Harry.

"Chakotay, you'll be taking Voyager to the nearest Stargate. We'll tell you where the nearest one is as soon as we know. That's the first thing we'll do on Destiny. Find out exactly where these 8 stargates are. Then you will start collecting them one by one."

"Sounds like a plan." Responded Chakotay.

"Seven, you'll be coming with me to Destiny with a few engineers. Bring the fusion reactor. See if you can plug it into the Stargate. Tom, B'Elanna, you're also coming with me. Captain Young contacted me shortly before this meeting. He says he wants to show us another piece of advanced ancient technology. Something called 'Communication Stones'."

**Destiny – Stargate Room**

Janeway, Tom Paris, B'Elanna, Seven, Everett Young, Tom Brody and several engineers were staring at the event horizon of the active stargate. Janeway tapped her commbadge.

"Janeway to Tuvok. What's it like there?"

"Much like how the floating kino footage showed it. It is a desert planet." Came Tuvok's reply over the commbadge. Tuvok, Adam Volker, Ronald Greer and three soldiers had just one minute earlier walked through the Stargate. He had arrived at the second Stargate that was on the list of the four Stargate addresses that were not locked out. The first address on the list was the planet they had visited yesterday.

"Contact Chakotay and have him trace your signal." Janeway ordered. Tuvok did so.

"Tuvok is 102 light years away." They heard Chakotay's voice report over their commbadges a moment later. Tom Brody was watching the video footage of the desert planet that the kino was transmitting. The away team was surrounded by a flat empty desert. Tom had rotated the kino to view the surrounding landscape. The only thing besides desert was the away team and the active Stargate itself.

"Reminds me of Mars. I took a holiday there once." Observed Tom Paris, who had wandered over to the control panel besides Tom Brody. "I'm never getting that week back."

"Captain, I have come up with an idea which could save us a lot of time." Reported Tuvok. "The other two Stargates that are not locked out are displayed here on my kino. They are within range. I suggest instead of returning to the Destiny, that we go directly to the next address on this list."

"Good idea." Janeway replied, then remembered that it was just as much Young's decision as it was hers. She turned to Young. "Is that okay with you?"

"Sounds good to me." Everett replied.

"We'll send the kino through first." Came Adam's voice over the control panel.

"Go ahead. Disengage the Stargate and report to us from the next world." Ordered Young. They watched the Stargate disengage. Five minutes later the Stargate activated again.

"This is Tuvok. We are reporting from the next planet. The atmosphere is breathable. Chakotay, please trace my signal." On the control panel the video footage from the kino appeared on the display screen. They appeared to be in a forest this time surrounded by trees.

"You are now 85 light years from Voyager." They heard Chakotay reply.

"The last available address also appears on the kino remote. I recommend we check that out too." Suggested Tuvok. Janeway looked at Young.

"Go ahead." Ordered Young. The Stargate disengaged. Five minutes later the Stargate activated again.

"Tuvok, you are eleven light years away." Chakotay's voice came over their commbadges.

"That's by far the closest Stargate." Janeway announced.

"Voyager can get there today." Tom Paris said with a smile.

"Looks like that's our Stargate." Janeway realised. "Chakotay, go get our first Stargate."

"With pleasure." They heard Chakotay reply. "Helmsman, set a course. Warp 9.5. Engage."

"Captain, there is no need for us to return to Destiny so soon. I recommend exploring this planet." Suggested Tuvok.

"Go right ahead." Replied Janeway. "Seven, see if you can plug the fusion reactor into the Stargate." The fusion reactor was currently sitting next to the Stargate. Seven nodded. Janeway then turned to Young. "Now then, you mentioned something about Communication Stones."

"Follow me." Young said.

**Destiny – Communication Stone Room**

Kathryn Janeway, Tom Paris, B'Elanna Torres, Everett Young and a female computer technician were seated around a round table. On the table was a device the shape of a large computer tablet. On the tablet were what appeared to be four, round, black stones. The technician had just finished explaining what the Communication Stones can do.

"So, the communication stones can do a mind swap with someone on Earth, billions of light years away?" asked Janeway.

"The communication stones have no range limit." Replied Everett. "This will work no matter where you are in the universe. Everyone on this ship have used these stones countless times. The only danger is if one person is killed while using the Communication Stones, then the other person will be killed too. But we won't be seeing any action. We're just going to be talking to our friends at Stargate Command on Earth. They just gave us permission this morning for you to use the Stones. They want to see you."

"I'm not going to end up in a female, am I?" Asked Tom.

Everett smiled. "No, this has been planned. They are ready for us. I will need to go first to warn them there are two females here. I will be back in one minute." Everett touched one of the communication stones. Janeway and the other Voyager crew members watched as Everett started behaving differently. Everett looked at his face in a mirror.  
"Hi there. I'm Dr Bill Lee. Are you the crew members from Voyager?" Said Everett Young. They realised that it was no longer Young. "Everett will be back in a moment. He's just giving them a heads up as to who's here."

"Hi Bill. Yes, we're from Voyager." Said Janeway. "So you're from Ear…"

"I'm back." Interrupted Everett. They noticed his mannerisms had changed back. "I just had to swap a male and female around."

Tom and B'Elanna smiled at each other realising what almost happened.

"You all ready?" asked Everett.

"As ready as we'll ever be." Replied Paris.

"All of you touch your designated stone now." Said the technician. They all touched the stones…and found themselves in a different room. They all looked at the mirrors and found a different face staring back at them. Janeway saw a blonde woman, about five years younger than her, staring back at her. Janeway looked down at a name tag on her chest. It was labelled S. Carter. Janeway looked at the people seated around the table. They were all dressed in military fatigues.

"Tom, B'Elanna. Is that you?" Janeway asked.

"Yes, Captain. I'm Tom." Said the stranger seated next to her.

"I'm B'Elanna." Added the woman next to Tom.

"I'm Everett Young. I'm in Dr Bill Lee's body." Replied Everett.

"You always wanted to be human." Paris said to B'Elanna. Paris pointed to B'Elanna's forehead which had no ridges on it.

"Very funny." Replied B'Elanna. She had raised a hand and was feeling her smooth forehead.

"Welcome to Stargate Command. On Earth. Or as we've been told, you've been referring to it now as 'Stargate Earth.'" They all looked up and saw three men standing on the other side of the room. Two in military fatigues. The third one appeared to be the EMH, in a business suit, wearing glasses. Hang on, Janeway thought. Several people said he has a lookalike here. What was his name again? The one who spoke was wearing a 21st century general's uniform. "This is the year 2014. I'm General Jack O'Neill."

* * *

Sorry it took so long for my next chapter. Real life caught up to me. I have a full-time job and since my last chapter, amongst other things, I've travelled interstate to help a family member move house. But things have calmed down a bit so the next chapters should be more frequent again.

Next chapter. Janeway and O'Neill talk, Voyager obtains their first Stargate and Samantha Carter gets to check out Destiny.


	11. Communication Stones

Sorry for the long wait again. At least you get a big chapter this time. My main point of this chapter was for Janeway to use the Communication Stones and talk to people at Stargate Command on Earth. Samantha Carter was originally just an afterthought to check out Destiny. But I realised that every chapter should be special somehow. So after brainstorming for a bit I realised I've stumbled across a goldmine. Samantha Carter is not going to be very happy with Nicholas Rush. Part of this chapter is going to go back to the emotional angst-filled drama that Stargate: Universe the TV series is known for.

* * *

**Chapter 11 – Communication Stones**

**Earth – USA, Colorado, Cheyenne Mountain, Stargate Command**

"So you're from a parallel universe?" Asked General Jack O'Neill.

"From your point of view, yes." Answered Janeway.

"And there are no Stargates in your universe." Added the other guy in military fatigues.

"As far as we know. Believe me, I am very impressed with what I've seen of it so far." Confessed Janeway. "And you are?"

"Oh, right. Introductions. I'm General Hank Landry, United States Air Force."

"I'm Richard Woolsey, representative of the IOA, the International Oversight Advisory." Said the EMH lookalike. Janeway remembered that the EMH features was based on his creator, Dr. Lewis Zimmerman. She also remembered hearing yesterday that Zimmerman is a descendant of Richard Woolsey. Or at least a parallel universe counterpart of him. Janeway wondered if she should tell Woolsey that. She decided to keep the meeting more business related.

"You're the captain of a starship called Voyager from the future of a parallel Earth?" asked Hank.

"Correct."

"We've heard that Voyager belongs to a space agency called Starfleet. What is Starfleet?" asked Richard Woolsey.

Janeway answered. "It is what replaced NASA in the 21st century not long after we invented warp travel. All of Earth's starships belong to Starfleet and Starfleet is part of the Federation. The Federation is a united organisation of many worlds. You could say it is somewhat similar to your United Nations. We had a United Nations in our past as well."

"It's nice to see the future turns out alright. At least in your Earth anyway." Remarked O'Neill.

"Tell me about this Stargate Command of yours." Said Janeway.

"Stargate Command is a branch of the United States Air Force." answered Hank Landry.

"In co-operation with the International Oversight Advisory, or the IOA." Added Richard Woolsey.

"Is Stargate Command completely controlled by the military?" Asked Janeway.

As Janeway, Richard, Hank and Jack continued to brief each other, B'Elanna looked down then put her hands on her belly. It suddenly occurred to her that there was no baby in her stomach. She is three months pregnant and suddenly her baby is gone. Her heart skipped a beat. Then she remembered her baby is just fine back in her own body back on Destiny. She breathed a sigh of relief. B'Elanna looked at Tom who was looking back at her, as if reading her thoughts.

**Destiny – Communication Stone Room**

Dr Bill Lee, Colonel Samantha Carter, Colonel Telford and a female Air Force officer found themselves on the Destiny. They identified themselves to the female technician. They also realised that three of them were inhabiting crew members from Voyager.

"I want to see Voyager. Is it still alongside Destiny?" Bill asked.

"No. It warped away about half an hour ago. I believe they're off to get their own Stargate." The technician answered.

"Oh, man! I missed it!" Bill exclaimed.

"Colonel Carter. You are now Captain Janeway of Voyager." The technician explained.

"Okay then. I didn't really want to get this close to her." Remarked Samantha.

"Holy crap! I'm an alien!" stammered the female officer. She had looked in the mirror and was now feeling the ridges on her forehead.

"Not quite. You're half human, half Klingon." Explained the technician.

"I have people to talk to. Bye." Said Colonel Telford in Tom Paris's body. He got up and left the room.

"I think I'm pregnant. There's a baby in me!" Gushed the female officer happily in B'Elanna's body. "So that's what it feels like. I can feel it moving! Awwwww!" She had her hands over her belly.

"Really? You were so no-nonsense just five minutes ago on Earth!" said an amazed Samantha.

"I've never been pregnant before!"

"Well I'm going to check out Destiny. Bye." Said Samantha who then stood up and walked out of the room.

"Same here." Said the female officer in B'Elanna's body.

Elsewhere, Samantha Carter explored Destiny. By herself she managed to find the infirmary, the observation deck, the mess hall and the Stargate room. She enjoyed seeing the earlier version of the Stargate. It's a pity it only has a range of a few hundred light years under its own power. She had to explain to Seven about the Communication Stones and that she wasn't Janeway but Samantha Carter. Seven seemed content with the explanation that it's only temporary and Janeway would be back soon. Seven was busy with a few crew members from both Voyager and Destiny figuring out how to connect a fusion reactor with the Stargate to extend the range. Samantha left them to it.

Elsewhere, Samantha found the Control Interface Room…and Dr Nicholas Rush. Rush was working alone at one of the control panels opposite the entrance to where Samantha stood at the open corridor. Rush looked up and saw the figure standing there.

"Captain Janeway." He acknowledged.

"Janeway is on Earth talking to Stargate Command. I'm Colonel Samantha Carter." Samantha decided to use her full name and title.

"Samantha?"

"That's Colonel Carter to you."

"I haven't seen you since…the USS George Hammond."

"Yes, that's right. I was the one who originally took most of the people here to Icarus."

"I know."

"I was entrusted with their safety. When Icarus was attacked, they all disappeared thanks to you!" Samantha said firmly.

Rush was pressing buttons on the console, but he stopped. He realised the point Samantha was making. "You feel responsible for these people."

"You could say that. Where do you get the nerve to take all these people on your foolhardy quest so far from Earth?"

"We had just unlocked the ninth chevron. It was the only chance we were ever going to get."

"You had a responsibility to bring these people home! Instead you took them to an extremely old spaceship which was falling apart in a distant part of the universe."

"The Stargate on Icarus was connected to the energy rich core. Also, it was unstable and the planet was about to explode. There's no telling if the explosion would have followed us back to Earth."

"The Alpha site then! That is the purpose of the Alpha site! If it's too dangerous to go to Earth then you go the Alpha site instead!"

"Do you have any idea how incredible the Destiny is? What it's mission is?"

"Rush! How many people have died on Destiny in the last five years?! Senator Alan Armstrong! Dr Jeremy Franklin! Sgt Riley! How many died when the Lucian Alliance stormed Destiny?"

"Those lives are indeed regrettable. But everyone knew the risks when they agreed to work for Stargate Comma…" Rush was cut off when Samantha decked him with one punch.

"Don't forget the two F-302 pilots who were killed when the second planet exploded while the Lucian Alliance were raiding Destiny. Those two pilots were on my watch." Samantha looked at Rush on the ground who was moaning. Not quite unconscious then. Samantha looked at her hand which was now throbbing. She realised she was still in Janeway's body. This will take some explaining, she thought. Samantha walked off.

**Voyager – Shuttlebay**

"Do we have a lock-on?" Asked Harry Kim.

"Affirmative." Replied the voice of the transporter operator coming out of Harry's commbadge.

"Beam it up. Site to site transport. Direct to the shuttlebay." Ordered Harry. Tuvok and Chakotay were standing next to him. They all saw a Stargate along with its base and ramp materialise in front of them. "We have our very first Stargate."

"Does it work?" Asked Chakotay.

Tuvok looked at the remote in his hand. "The kino remote does seem to be interfacing with it."

"Let's give it a go and see if it works." Offered Harry.

"No time like the present. Let's test it now. See if we can open a wormhole to another Stargate. Let's try Destiny. Is it on the list of available Stargates?"

"Yes." Tuvok replied.

"Do it. Open a wormhole." Ordered Chakotay.

Tuvok pressed a few buttons on the remote. The Stargate lit up and started rotating back and forth on its base. Then the whoosh came out of the Stargate then settled back into an event horizon.

"That still looks cool!" Exclaimed Harry.

Chakotay tapped his commbadge. "Seven. Can you hear me?" Chakotay realised that with the wormhole open between Voyager and Destiny, he doesn't need the subspace communicator, just his commbadge.

"I hear you." Seven replied. Her voice came out of Chakotay's commbadge. "You've obviously reached the first Stargate."

"We sure have. We've beamed it onto Voyager. How goes connecting the fusion reactor to Destiny's Stargate?"

"Almost done. We'll be testing it soon." Seven announced.

"Good. We'll soon be off to get our second Stargate. Do you remember the address for this Stargate?"

"Yes. It's the one that's only eleven light-years away, isn't it?" Seven asked.

"Correct. Looks like we'll be travelling back and forth by Stargate now instead of beaming. Chakotay out. Tuvok, close the wormhole." Tuvok complied and the wormhole deactivated. "Test the other remotes and these new kinos. Open a wormhole to as many Stargates as we can, send a kino through and find out where they are. Once we've done that, we can lay a course to retrieve them." Chakotay ordered.

"About that. It's the reason we requested the Stargate be put in the Shuttlebay instead of a cargo bay." Harry said. "Tuvok and I have come up with a plan to obtain Stargates twice as fast."

"Okay, let's hear it." Said Chakotay curiously.

"There's no way the Delta Flyer can fit through a Stargate. But we currently have two Type 9 shuttlecraft and two Type 6 shuttlecrafts. We've already measured them. They'll have to go slow, but they will just fit. With the warp nacelles, the Type 6 shuttlecraft has just two inches clearance on each side. Now what we suggest is that we take all 4 shuttles through this stargate, all to a different Stargate on a different planet. On each planet, they will attach the Stargate to the underside of the warp nacelles. We'll have to detach the ramp and attach it flat between said warp nacelles. The Stargate itself will be facing down in case it activates during flight. All four shuttlecraft will then head for Voyager at maximum warp and Voyager will pick them up halfway." Harry said eagerly.

Chakotay turned to Tuvok. "Is this possible?"

"I believe so." Tuvok replied. "I suggest we figure out how to detach this ramp first and construct clamps on our warp nacelles to hold the Stargates and the ramp."

"Don't our shuttlecrafts have tractor beams?" Asked Chakotay.

"They do. But they are too small and underpowered to take a Stargate into warp. The Stargates will have to be manually clamped to the shuttlecraft."

"How long will it take to design and build clamps?" Asked Chakotay.

Harry piped in. "Well the good news is we don't have to design them. They are schematics of quite a few clamps in Voyager's database. We found them back when we were designing the Delta Flyer. Apparently, people have been using shuttlecraft to snatch asteroids and other objects in space for a long time. We were going to attach clamps to the Delta Flyer way back in its design phase at one point before we realised its own tractor beam was a lot more powerful than the ones on the shuttlecraft."

"How long?" Chakotay asked again. "For the clamps."

"About two hours for each shuttle."

"Do it." Chakotay ordered. "Can the shields envelop the whole Stargate safely?"

"Yes they can. That's the easy part." Harry answered. "The good news about the warp nacelles being located at the bottom of the shuttle is that with just one small adjustment the shield can be expanded to cover just as much area below the shuttle as above it. The Stargate will be perfectly safe."

Chakotay then looked around at a nearby table and saw half a dozen black cubes among other items. The black cubes were each slightly bigger than a Rubik's Cube and the corners were rounded off. "Are these the new probes that you have built based on Destiny's kinos?"

"Correct. We need permission to test these new kinos and kino remotes." Explained Harry.

"Why are they square instead of spherical like Destiny's kinos." Asked Chakotay.

"Just to help us tell them apart. Also they weren't completely based on the scans of the kinos. We decided some of the components could just be based on Starfleet technology instead of Destiny's. We saved a lot of time by doing that." Harry held up a black cube then let go of it. It stayed hovering in place. "As far as we know it can do everything that Destiny's kinos can do." Harry picked up one of the datapads that were also on the table. They looked about twice the size of a normal datapad. "These are our versions of the kino remotes. If all the tests go okay, we'll be using these." Harry pressed some buttons on the screen and it displayed a list of stargate addresses. "We have six stargates in range here, three of them are locked out. Another suggestion we have are these Stargates which are locked out. I believe I can get around the lockout. They said the reasons a Stargate are locked out are either, a malfunction of the Stargate, the atmosphere is inhospitable, or the Stargate is buried. If we're just going to be picking up Stargates with our shuttles, then it won't matter if the atmosphere is inhospitable. I suggest if we can send a kino through okay, then we should send the shuttle through and take the Stargate anyway."

"Sounds good to me. As long as it's safe to do so." Replied Chakotay.

"Of course. We'll use the kino to take a detailed scan of the environment and make sure it's not too harsh for a shuttle." Explained Harry.

Chakotay looked at the table and saw smaller devices of what looked like datachips. "What are these?"

Tuvok answered. "Those are simple radio transmitters. Its sole purpose is to transmit a beeping sound. The purpose of this is to throw it through a Stargate after we've opened a wormhole to a new planet. If our receivers still hear the beeping, we know the Stargate is not buried. Then we know it's okay to send a kino through."

"These tiny transmitters are so simple, we can replicate them on any replicator whenever we need to. We actually got the idea from Adam Brody and Dale Volker." Harry added. "They suggested this last night while we were at dinner. They said they use something similar back on Earth. When they're just testing a new Stargate address for the first time, they throw a small cheap radio transmitter through. If the beeping stops, they know the Stargate is either buried or malfunctioning and they never dial it again. If the beeping continues, they send through something much larger and expensive called a MALP. On Destiny they've lost several kinos by sending them through to dead ends. They asked that if we actually managed to make these transmitters, if we could give some to them to help save on kinos."

"Sure thing. Test all of these out. Test the Stargate on as many addresses as you can. Find out where they are. Get these clamps built on these shuttles. Grab as many crewmembers as you can to help you build and attach the clamps. We're going Stargate hunting. Contact me before you send a shuttle through the Stargate. I want to see that. In the meantime, I'll be on the bridge." With that, Chakotay walked out of the shuttlebay.

**Earth – USA, Colorado, Cheyenne Mountain, Stargate Command**

"So the general public is unaware of the Stargate program and that you have spaceships." Surmised Janeway.

Woolsey decided to explain. "Correct. It would create all sorts of panic if the Stargate program ever went public. Most of the general public don't even believe in aliens."

"And several other governments have found out about all this. Some have their own spaceships as well." Janeway further deduced what she had been told.

"Russia and China know and have constructed their own spaceships." Explained O'Neill. "At the moment all our space cruisers are based on the Daedalus class."

"I've heard about the Daedalus class cruiser from some of the crew members from Destiny. It's a battlecruiser, correct?" asked Janeway.

"That would be a yes." Confirmed General Jack O'Neill.

"Nothing wrong with that." B'Elanna added. Tom Paris smiled.

"Forgive me for asking but wouldn't that give the wrong message to any aliens you encounter? Arming all your spaceships to the teeth. Space travel should be about exploration."

"Your USS Voyager is armed, isn't it?" Asked O'Neill.

"Correct. But there are a lot of hostile alien races out there. Our weapons are for defense only. We never fire first." Answered Janeway.

"We have the same philosophy here." Explained Hank Landry. "Our main mission is exploration. But we do need to defend ourselves. Let's get to the next part of this meeting. Colonel Everett Young has already filled us in on…"

"Colonel?" Kathryn, B'Elanna and Tom looked at Everett. "All this time everyone has been calling you Captain. I outrank you?"

Both Everett and Hank cringed. Hank explained. "Sorry Everett. That slipped out. Everett Young is the most senior person on Destiny. That sort of makes him the 'acting' Captain. But officially his rank is still Colonel."

"Nice one, Hank." Everett Young said in resignation. "But I knew that would come out eventually so I'm ready. There is no Colonel rank in the navy. But in the Air Force, Colonel is higher than Captain. I gave myself the rank of Captain when Voyager showed up just so we'd get along easier."

"Anyway, Everett has filled us in on your plan to get both crews home." Hank continued. "This involves the construction of several fusion reactors to increase the range of the stargates to get the Destiny crew home. He's also filled us in on the plan for Destiny to go through the large wormhole to your universe and take the Voyager crew home."

"That's the plan." Janeway confirmed.

"So, this natural forming wormhole." Hank continued. "It stretches all the way from the galaxy that the Destiny is currently in in our universe all the way to the Milky Way Galaxy in your Star Trek universe?"

"Correct." Tom answered. "Voyager has been through it. As far as we can tell it's stable. Even though Destiny is about twice the size of Voyager it should still fit in the wormhole just fine. We don't foresee any problems sending Destiny through it."

"How long will this trip take? Taking Destiny to your Earth, that is." O'Neill asked.

"We estimate it to be about somewhere between three to four months." Tom answered.

"What about getting the crew of Destiny home, to our Earth?" Hank asked.

Kathryn answered. "That's a bit harder to predict. We're not yet sure how many fusion reactors are required. We're also not sure how much the range will be increased by plugging a fusion reactor to it. We'll be finding out soon. They're connecting a fusion reactor to the Stargate on Destiny right now. There's just one more thing to discuss considering the Stargates."

**Destiny – Stargate Room**

Seven of Nine, Adam Brody, Dale Volker, Eli Wallace, Lisa Park, Chloe Armstrong, Camile Wray, Bill Lee, Telford and several other crew members from both ships were watching the Stargate. Samantha Carter (still in Kathryn Janeway's body) had re-joined them to see the experiment.

"It's all set." Seven announced to the others. She was standing in front of the fusion reactor. A thick power cable led from the fusion reactor to an open panel in the floor next to the Stargate. The power cable disappeared down the open panel. Seven was unaccustomed seeing Tom Paris behaving so serious even after they explained to her that Tom was on Earth and a military officer named Telford was currently inhabiting his body. They had also filled her in about Janeway being swapped with a female officer called Samantha Carter. She turned back to the experiment. "The fusion reactor is on and connected to the Stargate. The fusion reactor is at one per cent power. I'm going to start increasing power." Seven had her hand on a dial on the fusion reactor. She started to slowly turn the dial.

"Five per-cent. Ten per-cent." Seven announced. She was looking at a small display screen on the fusion reactor. They heard the humming of the fusion reactor slowly rise in pitch. Chloe watched Eli look at the kino remote in his hand. She also saw Dale Volker standing at the Stargate interface console looking at the display. A couple of other crew members were also looking at kino remotes.

"So, what are we looking for?" Chloe asked.

Eli answered while looking and pointing at the remote. "This is the list of available Stargates within range of our Stargate. There are currently eight Stargates in the list. Four of them are locked out, just like it was a couple of days ago because Destiny hasn't gone anywhere. If all goes well, this list should grow significantly."

"Thirty percent. Thirty-five percent." Seven called out.

"Remember it usually takes a minute or two for the list to refresh." Adam Brody pointed out. The humming of the fusion reactor continued to rise in pitch.

"Fifty-five. Sixty." Seven continued. It was when she got to seventy-five percent that people noticed activity on their screens.

"It's happening!" Dale exulted.

"The list is growing!" Chloe squealed in delight.

Seven continued to count until… "Ninety-five. One hundred percent. Keep it there or power down?"

"Keep it at a hundred." They heard Nicholas Rush call out. Carter looked over and saw that Rush had entered the Stargate room and was standing next to Dale. Rush looked at Carter for a second then looked back down at the screen on the interface console. Apparently, Rush has decided to leave our little encounter unspoken for now, Carter thought.

"There is a total at the bottom." Eli pointed out. A number signifying the total number of available Stargates appeared when the list scrolled off the bottom of the screen. The number was still increasing.

Adam whistled. "Now that's a lot of Stargates." They all watched the number grow, until it stopped.

"12, 598 stargates." Chloe said, looking at the kino remote in Eli's hand. Eli was silently impressed because Chloe had read out the number which was in ancient in plain English.

"All the stargate addresses I see only have seven co-ordinates." Dale said.

"Same here." Adam confirmed.

"Try dialling an address in the previous galaxy." Nicholas Rush suggested.

"None are in the list." Dale pointed out.

"Dial one anyway." Rush insisted. "Just in case we can reach it but the readout is only displaying the Stargates in this galaxy. The interface does allow you to enter an address manually instead of choosing one from the list."

"Don't pick any stargates on any of the planets our descendants are on, in case we draw the drones to that planet." Lisa Park reminded them.

"Of course not." Dale replied. The drones that had attacked them in the previous galaxy were programmed to destroy any technology not their own. The drones can detect active Stargates and have been drawn to them in the past. "I remember an address. It's on the other side of the galaxy to where our descendants are. I'll dial it now." Dale entered the co-ordinates. The Stargate started spinning on its axis and changing direction at various intervals. Then the Stargate shut down.

"Eighth chevron will not engage." Dale called out.

"Try another address in that galaxy." Ordered Rush.

"I have another random address, well away from our descendants. Dialling now." Dale announced. The Stargate spun back and forth several times, then shut down again. "Stargate will not engage."

"What does this mean?" Asked Camile.

Eli replied. "The good news? The fusion reactor has increased the range of the Stargate to this entire galaxy."

"The bad news?" Adam Brody added. "The range doesn't quite make it to the previous galaxy."

"So this means no going home?" Asked Camile Wray.

Rush answered. "All this means is we now have a clear idea of how many fusion reactors will be required for the journey."

"How many?" Camile asked.

"More than we thought before." Eli answered. "No skipping galaxies anytime soon."

An alarm started sounding on Bill Lee's watch. Bill looked at it. "Oh, that's the timer for the Communication Stones. Time will be up in three minutes. We better head back to the Communication Stone room." Bill Lee, Telford and Samantha Carter started to walk out of the Stargate room.

"How's your head?" Samantha asked Nicholas as she was walking past him.

"I'm used to it." Nicholas replied.

**Earth – USA, Colorado, Cheyenne Mountain, Stargate Command**

"So, you want to ship as many Stargates as possible on Destiny for the trip to your Earth." Hank summarized.

"Correct." Kathryn Janeway replied. "We have to put them on Destiny as we'll be leaving Voyager by the wormhole. Voyager is out getting its first Stargate right now."

"How many Stargates?" Jack O'Neill asked.

"As many as we can fit. We're hoping for about a dozen."

"Does Destiny have the room for a dozen Stargates?" Jack asked Everett.

"We can make room. I'm also assuming that the Voyager crew will help us gain access to other parts of the ship on its journey to their Earth."

"The Voyager crew members on Voyager will help out anyway we can." Kathryn added. "We'll keep one Stargate on Voyager so we can maintain regular travel back and forth between the two ships. There'll be an officer exchange program as well. We'll rotate it as necessary."

"When do you expect to start this journey for Earth?" Woolsey asked.

"How about tonight?" Janeway asked.

"Sounds good to me." Everett said. "Right after dinner. Tonight it is."

Just then a beeper on the table went off. "Time's up." Woolsey said. "Back to Destiny."

"I'll report again right before we go through the wormhole." Everett said. "Something tells me the Communication Stones won't work in the Milky Way galaxy."

"We are deactivating the Communication Stones now." Jack announced. He pressed a few buttons on the computer tablet on the desk. Everett, Kathryn, Tom and B'Elanna then found themselves…

…back in their own bodies in the Communication Stones room back on Destiny. B'Elanna felt her belly and was glad her baby was back in her stomach. Kathryn looked down at her hand when she realised it was throbbing in pain.

"What the hell?" Kathryn exclaimed. She held her hand up. "What's wrong with my hand?"

The female technician at the table said. "Colonel Samantha Carter expresses her sincere apologies about your hand. She had a conversation with Dr Nicholas Rush and it ended with her punching him out."

"No kidding." Kathryn said. She had heard a few rumours about Nicholas Rush over the last couple of days at dinner when the two crews were conversing. Apparently, some of them were probably true.

"Aw, crap. Nicholas Rush has that effect on people." Everett Young said. "I'll have a talk with him."

The female technician announced. "They also say that the two crews will be going back and forth between the two ships by Stargate now. Voyager has obtained its first Stargate."

"Great!" said Kathryn, Tom and B'Elanna simultaneously.

"Let's go. We're going back to Voyager by Stargate." Kathryn said to Tom and B'Elanna. Kathryn turned to Everett. "We'll see you on Voyager for dinner tonight. We'll finalize our plans there."

"I can't wait." Everett replied. They all walked to the Stargate room. Seven and the other Voyager crew members were happy to see that Kathryn, Tom and B'Elanna were back in their own bodies again. The fusion reactor had been switched off, but they left it connected to the Stargate. Voyager was within the estimated 300 light-year range of the Stargate, so it didn't need the reactor. They activated the Stargate. Janeway tapped her commbadge to contact Voyager. Harry Kim replied saying the Stargate is setup and it's safe to come through. Janeway and the other Voyager crew members walked through the Stargate…

And found themselves in the shuttlebay in Voyager. Janeway and the other crew members who arrived with her looked at a shuttlecraft and saw it elevated on stands. There were crew members attaching mechanical arms to it. One end of the arms were being attached to the warp nacelles. The other end had clamps attached to them.

"What is this?" Janeway asked Harry.

"Oh yeah. With all the hustle and bustle it never occurred to us you don't know about this yet." Harry said. He then explained about the time saving measure of sending the shuttlecraft through the Stargate, collecting the Stargate, heading for Voyager at maximum warp and meeting Voyager halfway as a time-saving measure.

"Whose idea was this?" Janeway asked.

"That would be mine." Harry replied, not knowing if Janeway would be pleased by this. Janeway looked at the shuttlecraft, then looked at another shuttlecraft and realised that one was also elevated on stands. Clamps would soon be attached to that one as well.

Janeway looked back at Harry. "Well done!" Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Make sure you're at dinner tonight with the rest of us. The two crews have a lot to discuss. Destiny is going to head off for the wormhole tonight after dinner." Janeway then left the shuttlebay.

One of the crew members turned to Harry. "We have finished attaching the clamps to the first shuttle."

"Good job!" Harry replied.

**Voyager – Officer's Mess**

The Officer's Mess was full of people from both ships. Dinner was loud. There were a lot of laughing. Each time they met up for dinner the two crews got to know each other more. The soldiers from Destiny who were usually strictly no-nonsense were smiling and laughing with everyone else. They were comparing more stories. Some people were cracking jokes. Alcohol was served. Everett had warned his crew, including Chloe, to drink in moderation. Males from each crew had started talking more to females from the other crew. Chloe and Seven were starting to find themselves quite popular.

Again, they saved the replicator rations so everyone could have their own desert of choice. During dinner Everett had asked Kathryn about the hand but she assured him the doctor had completely healed it. As everyone were finishing desert, Everett and Kathryn got up and moved to the centre of the room, which was in front of the kitchen. Kathryn had a wine bottle and a spoon. She tapped the spoon on the wineglass to settle the crowd down.

"I can tell everyone is happy and drunk." Kathryn announced.

"Including us." Everett added. Some people laughed.

"But don't worry, we're not going to talk for long." Kathryn said. "We're just summing up what's going to happen from this point on. Time is up. We are leaving for the wormhole that leads to the Milky Way galaxy…tonight!" The whole crowd cheered. "Destiny is going to beat us there. Voyager, on the other hand, will be collecting Stargates on the way. As there is no intelligent life here, present company excluded, we think," The crowd laughed "no one will miss these Stargates. When Voyager does rendezvous with Destiny at the mouth of the wormhole, the Stargates will be transferred to Destiny."

Everett said "Once we've fit as many Stargates as possible onto Destiny, Destiny will then travel through the wormhole to the Milky Way galaxy and then proceed onwards to their Earth. We predict the trip will take about three and a half months."

"Yeah!" The crowd called out. Everett and Kathryn looked at the crowd. Everyone was happy, but the Voyager crew seemed happier as it was their Earth they were going to.

"As for Voyager." Janeway took over. "Voyager will remain at the wormhole on the side of our 'Star Trek' Universe."

"Awwww." The Voyager crew moaned. They had grown attached to Voyager over the last six and a half years. It was their home. It had now become certain they would not be in it forever.

"Don't worry. We will leave one Stargate on Voyager. It will also have a fusion reactor attached to it. That will allow us to maintain our ability to travel back and forth no matter how far Destiny gets from Voyager. The test that Seven ran today shows that the fusion reactor can increase the range of the Stargate to reach the entire galaxy."

Everett took over. "Even when Destiny gets to Earth. People will easily be able to travel back and forth. This means there will be an officer exchange program between the two ships during the three and a half month journey to Earth. We can rotate this crew as needed or requested during the journey. Destiny will require several crew members from Voyager to help us access the other sections of the ship. They will also help us figure out some of the technology of Destiny that we haven't figured out yet. Your scanners or tricorders as you call them seem incredible and will help us greatly. Believe me, you will all be busy during the trip back to Earth figuring out Destiny."

"Back to Voyager." Janeway said. "Several crew members from Destiny will be on Voyager. They will help us with our mission to reach the other Earth. That is, Stargate Earth. Seven will stay on Voyager building fusion reactors. Seven has assured us that two fusion reactors attached to a Stargate will allow it to reach another galaxy. She will teach the other crew members how to attach them to the Stargates and use it. We will commence with the project that we will call 'Stepping Stones' and use the fusion reactors to jump from galaxy to galaxy all the way back to your Earth." Kathryn looked at the crowd. They were all looking back at her in silence. "Their mission is to find a safe Stargate to visit in each galaxy all the way back to Earth. Once complete, they will be able to travel all the way back here with a safe route to travel back and forth." Kathryn and Everett looked at the crowd. They were smiling but none were cheering. They were all thinking things through. Could this jumping from galaxy to galaxy actually work? That's a lot of galaxies. We're a really long way from Earth.

"It will work. We have the best minds from both starships working on it." Everett reassured them. People were still looking at them in silence. "Destiny's scientists know a lot more about the Stargate than Voyager's scientists. It will work."

**Destiny - Bridge**

Later, after both crews had returned to their respective ships, Everett Young walked onto the bridge. He was not surprised to see Nicholas Rush in the Captain's chair.

"We'll be having a chat tomorrow about your talk with Samantha Carter." Everett said to Nicholas. He then turned to Dale who was in the helmsman's chair. "Are we ready?"

"We've input the co-ordinates for the wormhole that the Voyager crew gave us. They seem to be legit. The co-ordinates are set. If we leave now, we should be there by morning."

"Has Destiny put up any kind of a fuss?"

"What do you mean?" Dale asked.

Nicholas added. "I was thinking that too. Destiny is about to turn around and go back to Earth. Well, at least 'a' Earth, if not 'the' Earth. Destiny has spent over a million years exploring the universe. I was wondering if it might protest somehow about doing a U-turn. We know Destiny has a mind of its own. But it seems to be behaving itself."

"Well then, lets jump to FTL." Everett ordered.

Dale started pressing buttons. "Jumping to FTL…now." They watched the starry view outside the front windows be replaced by the blue maelstrom of energy as Destiny jumped to FTL.

"I'll be turning in tonight. See you in the morning." Everett then left the bridge.

* * *

I searched on the internet and couldn't find any measurements of either the Stargate or the Type 9 or Type 6 shuttlecraft. So if I say they can fit through a Stargate, then they can fit through a Stargate.

Anyone who thinks this story is a bit slow, don't worry. They're soon going to find themselves in a lot more action than intended when they go back to the previous galaxy…

Edit: A reviewer pointed out that Samantha Carter's military rank is Colonel, not Lieutenant Colonel. I did check the internet but the web page I found only mentioned her rank as Lieutenant Colonel. It never mentioned her being promoted when she became the commander of Atlantis or the USS George Hammond. I've amended this chapter.


	12. Through the Wormhole

**Chapter 12 – Through the Wormhole**

**Voyager – Shuttlebay – 11:30pm**

Chakotay looked at the Type-9 Shuttle hovering a few feet away. It was pointing at the Stargate which had just been activated.

"You know what to do?" asked Chakotay.

"Affirmative." Harry replied through the intercom from the pilot seat. "We go through the Stargate, wait for it to deactivate, retrieve the kino, detach the ramp, use the shuttle's clamps to grab both the Stargate and the ramp then fly it to the rendezvous point for Voyager."

"You have the route that Voyager is taking toward the wormhole?"

"Yes, we do. We'll drop the Stargate at the designated rendezvous point on the route." Harry replied.

Chakotay added. "Just remember to have the Stargate pointing down when it's attached to the shuttle, okay?"

"Got it." Harry laughed. "You ready Marla?"

"Let's go." Marla Gilmore replied eagerly from the co-pilot seat on the shuttlecraft.

"We are inching forward now." He pressed a few buttons on the console and the shuttlecraft started moving forward. Chakotay saw the shuttlecraft slowly disappear as it entered the event horizon. It looked to Chakotay as if it was going into a swimming pool. Within several seconds it had disappeared completely.

"You still there, Harry?" Chakotay asked through his commbadge.

"We're through." Harry replied. "The shuttle's sensors are agreeing with the kino's. Atmosphere is inhospitable. It's a Class L planet. We'll be staying in the shuttle and have the clamps do all the work."

"Looks like it was a great idea to bypass the lockout on some of these Stargates. We'll get a lot more of them this way." Chakotay commented.

"And this planet, just like all the others, are completely uninhabited. No one will miss these Stargates." Added Harry.

"It looks like you'll have a nice present for Janeway when she wakes up. We'll catch up to you in about five hours. Have a nice trip. Chakotay out." Chakotay watched the Stargate deactivate.

**Destiny - Bridge**

Everett Young, Nicholas Rush and Adam Brody walked onto the bridge. Dale Volker and Lisa Park were already there seated at the front stations on the bridge. They looked out of the front windows and saw stars.

"Good morning." Everett greeted. "I noticed we're not at FTL anymore."

"We arrived about an hour ago." Dale said. "We're at the co-ordinates we were given. According to the Voyager crew, the wormhole should be here." They all looked out the front windows again. The only thing they could see were stars in the blackness of space, similar to the night sky back on Earth.

Lisa said. "They did say the wormhole will only appear when an object gets too close to it and will disappear once an object goes through it or moves away from it."

"Is there any way we can test that theory? Where exactly is it?" Everett asked.

"About ten kilometres ahead of us according to the co-ordinates. You in a hurry to go through?" Dale asked.

"Actually, yes. Janeway said it will take several days for Voyager to catch up to us. I'm thinking why don't we just go through the wormhole, have a look-see for a few hours then come back."

"I don't see why not." Dale said. "You want to go right now?"

"Not right this second. We'll contact Voyager first and notify them. But for now, just inch us forward and see if the wormhole appears. Get ready to reverse thrust when it does appear."

"Activating thrusters at ten percent power." Dale announced. They felt the floor hum and vibrate and then felt the Destiny start to move forward. After about two minutes, they saw a massive wormhole appear just one kilometre in front of the ship.

"Reverse thrust now! Don't go in!" Everett ordered Dale. Dale pressed a few buttons and the forward thrusters cut out and the reverse thrusters cut in at fifty percent. Destiny slowed, stopped then started to reverse away from the wormhole.

Several people who were on the observation deck gaped in awe at the wormhole which had suddenly appeared outside the forward windows. They saw the swirling blue energy rotating around in a circle. It filled the view out the forward windows. Toward the centre, they saw the blue energy curve into a tunnel then disappear out of sight.

"Wow!" gaped Camile Wray.

"It's so beautiful!" exclaimed Chloe Armstrong.

On the bridge, they saw the distance increase between Destiny and the wormhole. At about one and a half kilometres distance, the wormhole suddenly shrank until it disappeared completely.

"Well, at least we know it's here." Rush remarked.

"Can we notify Voyager from here?" Everett asked Dale.

"Yes, we can. Communications here on the bridge is capable of sub-space communication. It's how we managed to talk to Voyager when they were first chasing us. We don't need to activate the Stargate to contact them." Dale replied.

"Contact Voyager. Notify them that we will go through in approximately thirty minutes and spend several hours in the Milky Way galaxy. They can send over any crew members they want to join us."

**Voyager – Bridge**

"We're approaching the co-ordinates. Coming out of warp…now." Announced Tom Paris. On the forward viewscreen, the stars stopped streaking, revealing the blackness of space filled with stars. On the centre of the screen…

"Hang on. That's a Stargate. Where's the shuttlecraft?" Asked Janeway incredulously. The Stargate on the viewscreen was floating in space. The base stand was attached to it complete with ramp.

"That's one of the surprises we have for you." Chakotay said. "When Harry arrived at the rendezvous point at 4:30am he didn't want to wait for Voyager. He came up with another idea to obtain Stargates faster. Can you guess what he did?"

Janeway thought for several seconds. "You don't mean…he activated the Stargate while it was floating here in space and took the shuttle through it to get another Stargate?"

"You got it. He contacted us and told us his plan when he arrived at the first rendezvous point. I thought it was a great idea. By now Harry would be currently en route to the next rendezvous point with his second Stargate. I have another surprise for you. Harry didn't put that Stargate there. Harry's stargate is already in the shuttle bay. We picked it up about half an hour before you got to the bridge."

"There are two stargates in the shuttle bay?" Janeway asked.

"That's right. About to be three." Chakotay replied.

"Who flew the second shuttle?"

"Don't be mad, okay?" Chakotay cringed. Janeway looked at him quizzically. Chakotay answered. "William Telfer, Tal Celes and Mortimer Harren".

"They actually got off their butts and did something?" Janeway asked. "The last time they were in the Delta Flyer they almost blew it up with me on it. You chose them for this mission?"

"They volunteered actually. I accepted as it would be a good test to see if they can accomplish something. The stargate is there so they're obviously doing good so far. They seem to be caught up in the excitement of stargates and getting home soon."

"Isn't everyone?" Janeway remarked. Both Janeway and Chakotay had noticed the crew seemed a lot more upbeat ever since they discovered Destiny and the Stargates. "What about the third and fourth shuttlecrafts?"

"The third shuttle is also on its way to the rendezvous point with a stargate attached to the underside. The fourth shuttle has almost completed tests with the clamps. It's due to leave in half an hour. I'm piloting that one myself. I'm caught up in the excitement myself. I want to be more hands on."

"Who's going with you?"

"I haven't got a co-pilot yet." Chakotay admitted.

"I'm going with you. I want to be more hands on too."

"Okay then. Just a heads up. I want to use my time in the shuttle to catch up on a few hours sleep. I've just done an all-nighter. First let's get this floating Stargate on board."

They manoeuvred Voyager around, so the Stargate was floating just outside the shuttlebay at the stern of the ship. The shuttlebay doors opened. The shield was raised but configured so it only kept the atmosphere in. A tractor beam snagged the stargate and slowly brought it through the shield into Voyager's shuttlebay. A crew member in the shuttle informed the bridge that the stargate was safely onboard.

Voyager was about to go to warp to collect the fourth stargate when Destiny contacted them. Destiny informed Voyager that it intended to go through the wormhole and spend half a day in the Milky Way galaxy. They were inviting anyone from Voyager who wants to come along.

"Any volunteers?" Chakotay asked everyone on Voyager by ship-wide intercom. "Any crew members who want to join Destiny for their day trip in the Milky Way galaxy who haven't got any mission critical tasks meet in the shuttlebay in fifteen minutes. You'll be travelling to Destiny via Stargate."

**Destiny – Observation Deck**

Nineteen crew members from Voyager, who had arrived via Stargate just moments ago, crowded onto the Observation Deck on Voyager. Tuvok, Vorik and Naomi Wildman were with them. There were over a dozen people from Destiny already there.

People from Destiny weren't too surprised to see a young Naomi Wildman there as they had already seen her during the dinners on Voyager. Also, they had heard that Young had an open invitation for Voyager members to come over for the day trip to the Milky Way galaxy. They had already found out that she had a human mother. They wondered what species her dad was, though. None of them were about to ask her as Young had very sternly warned everyone, especially Rush, several days ago before their first dinner, to be on their best behaviour around the Voyager crew.

"This is Colonel Young." They heard Youngs voice over the intercom. "We're about to go through the wormhole to the Milky Way galaxy in the Star Trek Universe. We have no idea how bumpy the ride is going to be. Hang on." They all looked out through the forward window. They all heard and felt the hum and the vibrations as the thrusters started and Destiny started moving forward. After half a minute everybody saw the massive wormhole open. It was a swirling blue maelstrom which appeared to be getting larger as Destiny approached it. Eli had a kino hovering a foot above his head. Eli was recording the event. Tuvok had a tricorder and was scanning the wormhole.

"Wow!" Exclaimed Naomi. "So pretty! I didn't get to see this before!"

The wormhole filled the view out the forward window. They felt a shudder as Destiny entered the wormhole. The blue swirls of the wormhole increased in speed and shape. It looked more like a kaleidoscope as if their eyes weren't too sure how to interpret the insides of the wormhole. The turbulence increased a bit in intensity causing some people to watch their balance but not quite enough turbulence to cause people to fall over.

After a minute the blue swirling ceased as Destiny came out of the wormhole and the turbulence ceased. Outside the forward window the view yet again became filled with stars against a black backdrop as if they were looking up into a cloudless sky at night. Some people on the observation deck were expecting something more after travelling such an incredibly long distance in just one minute.

"So, we're back in the Milky Way galaxy?" Asked Camile Wray.

"Right galaxy. Wrong universe." Eli Wallace answered.

"We're now in the Star Trek universe." Remarked Corporal Barnes.

"Oh yeah, the experiment with the Stargate." Eli remembered. "I want to see what it reveals. I'm off to the gate room." Eli then left the Observation Deck.

"Experiment?" Vorik asked.

"The experiment to repeat what Seven did yesterday." Tuvok explained. "To turn on the fusion reactor to increase the range of the Stargate. I believe the results of that experiment would be most enlightening." Tuvok followed Eli out of the Observation Deck, followed by Vorik and about a dozen people each from both crews.

**Destiny – Bridge**

"What are our senses telling us? Anyway to confirm if this is the Milky Way galaxy?" Asked Young.

"That will take time. What I can say is I only turned on one sensor. But Destiny turned on quite a few sensors all by itself." Observed Dale Volker.

"Destiny is curious about this galaxy." Realised Adam Brody.

"Is it picking up any spaceships nearby?" Asked Young.

"Not so far." Replied Dale.

"Let Destiny scan whatever it wants. Tell me if it finds anything out of the ordinary. I'm heading to the Gate room." Young then left the bridge.

**Destiny – Stargate Room**

There were over two dozen people in the gate room.

"Let's get to it." Said Young who had just walked in. "Who's going to operate the fusion reactor?"

"I'll do it." Volunteered Tuvok. He walked over to the fusion reactor. Young looked around the gate room. Nicholas Rush was at the interface console. Eli Wallace and a few other people had kino remotes. Other people were standing next to them ready to see what the results will be.

"Fire it up when ready." Young said.

Tuvok turned the dial on the fusion reactor. "Ten percent. Twenty percent."

Naomi was standing next to Eli. "Are you looking for Stargates?" She asked him.

"We sure are." Eli replied. "We're repeating yesterday's experiment. This will tell us if there are any Stargates in this Milky Way galaxy."

"There are over twelve and a half thousand stargates in the galaxy we were just in." Chloe said.

"We're expecting zero stargates in this galaxy." Eli added.

"Eighty percent." Tuvok called out. Naomi watched Eli's eyes widen while he was looking at the kino.

"Holy crap!" Eli exclaimed.

"Language." Chloe said. "There's a kid in the room."

"We have an address. Two of them." Rush announced.

"Three. Four addresses." Lisa Park called out while looking at the kino remote in her hand.

"One hundred percent." Tuvok called out.

"Seven addresses." Eli called out.

"Eight. Nine." Lisa called out.

"Eleven." Rush called out. Everybody waited about half a minute.

"Still eleven." Eli called out.

After another minute Rush said. "That's it. Eleven addresses."

"What does that mean?" Camille asked.

"There are eleven stargates in this Milky Way galaxy." Rush answered.

"Only eleven?" Young asked.

"The fusion reactor has increased the range of the stargate to cover this entire galaxy." Rush answered. "Eleven stargates only."

"Umm, guys? Have you noticed?" Lisa called out. She was still looking at the remote.

"Yeah. This is interesting." Eli said. "All eleven stargates are locked out."

"Yes, they are." Rush confirmed. "Curiouser and curiouser."

"Can you bypass?" Young asked.

"The only way to find out is to try them one by one." Rush answered. "Has anyone from Voyager brought those small radio transmitters?" During last night's dinner, the Voyager crew had told them about their own versions of the kino, kino remotes and radio transmitters they had built by reverse engineering the ones from Destiny.

"I have five here." Vorik called out.

"Only five?" Rush asked.

"We weren't expecting to find any Stargates remember? Also, that's all I had to bring. The rest are on the shuttles that are currently picking up Stargates for Voyager back in the other galaxy." Vorik answered matter of factly.

"Try the third and sixth address in the list first." Eli suggested to Rush.

"Why those?"

"I believe those two are between here and Earth."

"So be it." Rush then started operating the interface control to try to get around the lockout.

"How could you possibly know which of those addresses are between here and Earth?" Chloe asked.

"I worked it out in my head. The addresses are co-ordinates. I know what Earth's address is. The kino remote is telling me what the address is right here. I've done enough working out in my head over the years with stargate co-ordinates to find out roughly where in a galaxy a stargate is by just reading the symbols in a stargate address."

"Maths boy." Chloe said. Eli's nickname back in school had been 'Maths Boy' because he could do large calculations in his head.

"I've bypassed the lockout. Dialling address number three now." Rush announced. People moved out of the way from in front of the Stargate when they saw it start rotating back and forth. The whoosh came out of the Stargate and then settled back into the event horizon.

"Stargate is active. Please throw one of the transmitters through the Stargate." Instructed Rush. Vorik walked over to in front of the Stargate. He turned on one of the radio transmitters. Everybody could hear a beeping come from a separate receiver in Vorik's other hand. Vorik then threw the transmitter into the event horizon. The beeping stopped.

"Wait a second." Rush advised. "It usually takes about 1.6 seconds for an object to travel through the wormhole. They waited some more. After about fifteen seconds Rush said. "Address number three is a no-go. Shutting down the Stargate." The Stargate shut down.

"What does that mean?" Naomi asked.

Eli replied. "It means that either the Stargate is buried or it's malfunctioning. Either way we can't travel to it or send a kino through."

"I heard there were three reasons why a Stargate is locked out." Naomi replied.

"That's true. A stargate address will be locked out if there is an inhospitable atmosphere." Eli explained. "But even if the atmosphere was really harsh, the transmitter should still have transmitted for a few seconds before the atmosphere destroyed it. We got no beeping at all from the other end."

"Dialling address number six now." Rush called out. After a moment the Stargate activated again. "Go ahead Vorik." Vorik switched on another transmitter then threw it into the event horizon. Again, the beeping did not resume at the other end. They waited half a minute before shutting down the Stargate.

"Try dialling Earth." Young suggested. Rush looked at Young. "I know it's not on the list of addresses, but try dialling the address anyway, just as a just-in-case measure."

"Dialling Earth's address." Rush announced. Rush dialled the address manually. The Stargate started rotating back and forth, then shut down. "Seventh chevron will not engage. Most likely there is no stargate on Earth."

"Better to try and fail than not try at all. We had to try." Young said. "You can try the other addresses now."

Rush bypassed the lockouts and dialled the first, second and fourth address on the list. Each time the Stargate activated, Vorik threw the transmitter into the event horizon, but the beeping never resumed at the other end.

"So much for that idea." Rush said. "Tuvok, you can shut down the fusion reactor now." Tuvok dialled the reactor down to zero percent then switched it off.

"I am out of radio transmitters." Vorik said. "I'll need to replicate some more from Voyager before we can continue with the remaining addresses."

"No hurry." Rush advised. "Something tells me the result will be the same with the remaining six addresses."

"Any idea why?" Young asked.

"Any theories I come up with now we will be nothing short of guesses. I prefer to have some more concrete facts at hand before speculating." Rush replied.

"Well if two of those Stargates are indeed on our course to their Earth, we'll check them out." Young said.

"But having Stargates in the Star Trek Milky Way galaxy, and only eleven Stargates, definitely counts as a mystery. And this is one mystery I intend to solve."

* * *

Voyager crew members William Telfer, Tal Celes and Mortimer Harren appeared in episode 6.20 "Good Shepherd." They were the three underperforming crew members who Janeway took with them on a mission in the Delta Flyer. They encountered some kind of entity which forced them to lift their game in order to survive it.

I've noticed it's not easy finding other crew members from Voyager for doing things in my story. The main cast are the senior crew members and they're busy with other tasks. I didn't even name the characters on the third shuttle.

I thought for the longest time that Samantha Wildman, Naomi's mother died sometime during Voyager because she disappeared from the show and Naomi was only ever seen talking to other crew members. But when I checked on the web, the only Samantha that ever died was her duplicate when Voyager was duplicated and destroyed. Luckily, I found that out and edited this chapter before I uploaded it.

Edit: Whoops! I changed Chloe Sullivan to Chloe Armstrong and re-uploaded this chapter. Good pickup Marius1117!


	13. Supplies Needed

Again, sorry for the wait for this chapter. Real life keeps catching up to me. At least I have a nice big chapter for you. I also managed to end this chapter on a great cliffhanger.

* * *

**Chapter 13 – Supplies Needed**

**A Class L planet - Shuttlecraft**

"I can do it. I have to prove that I can do anything my crew members can do." Kathryn Janeway said in the pilot seat.

"You've been trying for five minutes now. Give me a go." Chakotay offered from the co-pilot seat.

"Not yet." Janeway continued. The shuttlecraft was hovering besides the ramp of a Stargate. They were at a Class-L planet. That meant they could not leave their shuttlecraft. Janeway was operating the controls which was controlling the two robotic clamps attached to the shuttlecraft. Various tools had extended out of the clamps and was fixated on the connection points on the ramp. She was trying to detach the ramp from the base stand holding the Stargate. "I saw the video Harry and Tuvok did of how they managed to detach the ramp in the shuttlebay. I know I can do it. Three shuttlecraft have already managed to detach the ramp and take the Stargate. Some of them multiple times now. No way am I going to contact Voyager and say I couldn't do it. Yes! I knew I could do it!" The ramp was now detached and being held in one of the clamps. The tools retracted inside the clamps. "No sweat." Janeway said.

Next, she used the clamps to attach the ramp to the underside of the shuttlecraft between the two warp nacelles. Then she manoeuvred the shuttle around behind the Stargate. She raised the nose of the shuttle until it was pointing straight up. The shuttle was now vertical, the underside of the shuttle hovering a few feet from the Stargate. There were tiny cameras all over the shuttle, including the underside so Janeway could still see what she was doing on monitors on the control panel. Janeway used the two rear clamps to grab hold of the base stand. Lastly, she used the two front clamps to hold the top of the Stargate. The inside of the two front clamps had a smooth finish and were designed to allow the Stargate to rotate freely back and forth in case it activated during flight. They figured it was safer to allow the Stargate to activate in flight than risk damaging it by stopping it from rotating.

"Presto! It's secured!" Janeway cheered.

"I had total faith in you the whole time." Chakotay said humorously.

"Yeah, right." Janeway said sarcastically. "Let's take off."

Chakotay operated the controls and the shuttlecraft, which was still pointing up, shot up into the air, taking the Stargate with it. Once they were free of the planet's non-breathable atmosphere, they raised shields. Janeway extended the shields so it extended below the shuttlecraft to protect the Stargate. Next the shuttlecraft went to warp.

"Now we have about four hours to kill before we reach our rendezvous point ahead of Voyager." Said Janeway

"I was up all night so I'm catching some shut-eye." Chakotay sighed. He got up and walked to the rear of the shuttle. He pressed a switch on a side wall and a bunk bed unfolded out of the wall. He turned off the rear light.

"And I'll catch up on my novel." Janeway said, grabbing her datapad.

**Destiny – Control Interface Room**

Eli Wallace, Adam Brody, Tuvok, Vorik and Naomi Wildman were in the Control Interface Room. Tuvok was naming the various metals and other materials needed for the fusion reactors that Seven is building. Eli and Adam were entering the materials into the computer consoles. Eli explained a couple of days ago that Destiny will know which planet will contain the materials required. A problem had arisen where neither Eli nor Adam had heard of some of the materials Tuvok was naming.

"I have another idea." Tuvok said. "It may be easier if I attempt to interface my tricorder with this computer console.

"Yeah, that's a good idea. Try it." Eli agreed. Both Tuvok and Vorik held their tricorders next to the nearest computer console and started tapping buttons.

"This is interesting." Tuvok said, looking confused. The others looked at him. "It looks like this tricorder is already synced with Destiny."

Vorik was tapping away at his tricorder. "Same with my tricorder. Mine is also synced. But I never synced it."

"Yeah, that would be Destiny." Eli pointed out.

"We never gave anyone on Destiny permission to interface with our tricorders." Tuvok stated.

"No one on Destiny did." Adam said. "Destiny did it itself."

Tuvok and Vorik looked at each other, then back at Adam. "Care to elaborate?" Tuvok asked.

"Destiny is really curious, about everything." Eli explained. "When we first got on Destiny about two, I mean five years ago, we started up our laptops and were trying to connect them to Destiny via wi-fi. We didn't really have a clue how we were going to do it. We all got called away to do something else at the time. When we came back, we realised all the computers were now connected. It was Destiny itself that did the interfacing."

"Oh, by the way, Destiny would have read everything on those tricorders by now." Adam added. "Hope you didn't have anything confidential on them."

"Yes, we do." Tuvok relented.

"Destiny is naughty." Naomi said.

"Yep, you're right." Eli agreed, then turned back to Tuvok and Vorik. "Don't worry, Destiny doesn't have any harmful intent. It is strictly an exploration vessel. It only wishes to gain knowledge to gain knowledge."

"If it will make you feel any better." Adam added. "Destiny read everything on our laptops as well."

"We will be reporting this to Captain Janeway later." Tuvok stated.

"Go ahead but there won't be much you or Janeway can do about it." Eli said. "We may as well go back to entering these materials. It should go a lot smoother now that your tricorders are synced."

"Probably so." Tuvok agreed.

**Destiny – Corridor**

Eli Wallace and Naomi Wildman were walking along a corridor. Eli and the scientists were finished with the project of finding a suitable planet for resources. Everyone was surprised with the planet that Destiny came up with, but Eli will let Tuvok and Vorik worry about that. Adam Brody was teaching Tuvok and Vorik how to use the computers in the Control Interface Room, so Eli had decided to go for a walk with Naomi. Apparently, Naomi was six years old but looked and behaved as if she is about ten.

"Are you happy that you will finally see Earth?" Eli asked Naomi.

"Sort of. But the problem is, once I'm on Earth, I'll probably never see Voyager again."

"But you'll finally be home."

"But Voyager is home. Apart from shore leave now and then, I've always been on Voyager."

"You're probably the person who likes being on Voyager the most. That means we have something in common. I'm a big sci-fi fan so I probably like being on Destiny the most." Eli realised he was probably second to Rush, but he wasn't about to tell Naomi that.

"What can Destiny do that Voyager can't?" Naomi asked.

"Well, Destiny is a lot faster than Voyager, and it's travelled way further. It's also extremely old. What can Voyager do that Destiny can't?" Eli counter asked.

"I know we have transporters. I know our shuttlecraft can go to warp. We have replicators too."

"Good points. I sure like those replicators. Choosing your own food is great. Is this your first time on Destiny?"

"Yeah. Janeway wouldn't let me go on the tour a few days ago. Thought it might be too dangerous."

"Admittedly it does look like a death trap. But it's a lot tougher than it looks. Do you want me to show you around?"

"Sure!" Naomi exclaimed eagerly.

"Let's go!"

**Outer Space - Shuttlecraft**

"I'm lined up now. Activating Stargate." Chakotay announced. Chakotay tapped away on the brand new kino remote. It looked like a datapad, except it was twice as large and thick. Harry and Tuvok had reverse-engineered it from the kino remote that the Destiny crew had loaned them. Just like the kino remote, not only could it control a kino, it also doubled as a DHD or dial-home-device. They saw the kawoosh energy come out of the stargate as it activated then withdraw back into the glowing event horizon. The Stargate itself was floating in space in front of them. Janeway had managed to reattach the ramp using the tools embedded in the clamps on the robot arms attached to the shuttlecraft.

"Chakotay to Voyager. Come in."

"This is Voyager." Replied a voice on the intercom.

"Joe Carey?" Chakotay recognised Joe's voice. "We're about to come through with the shuttle craft. Is there room in the shuttle bay?"

"Yes, there is. Come on through." Replied Lieutenant Joe Carey. Thanks to stargates being in the shuttlebay, the shuttlebay now always had to have at least one crewmember and a security guard present in case of unwelcome visitors arriving through a stargate.

"Here we come." Chakotay said. He operated the controls and the shuttlebay started moving forward toward the stargate. As the shuttlecraft started slowly entering the stargate, they saw the bluish energy of the event horizon start coming into the cockpit and going up their legs when…

DONG!

Chakotay and Janeway felt themselves suddenly pushed forward against the dashboard as the shuttlecraft bounced off the stargate. The shuttlecraft was rotating clockwise and the stargate was rotating anti-clockwise. They could see the Stargate and the stars all moving to the left as the front of the shuttlecraft was moving to the right.

"The starboard nacelle hit the stargate." Janeway pointed out.

"I know I know. I got it." Chakotay operated the controls. He let it do a complete rotation before he stopped it when the shuttle was pointing back at the stargate. They saw the Stargate was still rotating.

"I'll stop it with the clamp. I'll unfold it now." Janeway said.

"You forgot about the tractor beam. It's faster." Chakotay pointed out.

"Oh yeah." Janeway realised. The tractor beam on the shuttlecraft was small and far less powerful than the one on Voyager, but all it has to do is stop the stargate from rotating. Within a few seconds, Chakotay had stopped the rotating and it was again pointing at the shuttlecraft. "Let's try that one again, shall we?"

"This stays between us, okay?" Chakotay advised.

"You owe me one." Janeway said. Chakotay inched the shuttlecraft forward toward the Stargate.

**Voyager – Shuttlebay**

"Do you think we should tell them we heard every word of that?" said the security guard next to Joe Carey.

"Not if you want them to assign you to cleaning conduits for the next week." Replied Joe.

"I didn't hear a thing." The guard replied as they watched the shuttlecraft slowly come through the Stargate and into the Shuttlebay. The shuttlecraft hovered in front of the Stargate for several seconds, then it moved through the shuttlebay until it settled down in its usual parking spot. Chakotay and Janeway walked out of the shuttlecraft and looked around. The other three shuttlecraft were still gone. The shuttle they just exited, and the Delta Flyer were the only shuttles in the shuttlebay. They walked over to the stargates and counted them.

"One, two, three…four…five…six stargates!" Janeway exclaimed.

"Wow, we disappear for a few hours and the crew actually manage to get the job done." Chakotay said.

"Hey!" Janeway turned to Chakotay.

"Just kidding! They always do a good job." Chakotay said with a smile.

"There's currently another three stargates floating in space waiting for us to pick up, including the one you just left." Joe Carey informed them. "We'll be catching up to the first one in about forty-five minutes." Joe then tapped his commbadge. "Carey to Paris. Janeway and Chakotay are onboard and the Stargate is deactivated. We are free to proceed on course for the next Stargate."

"Got it." They heard Paris's voice reply on the commbadge. After several seconds they could feel Voyager go back to warp. They had already discovered the Stargate doesn't work while the ship is at warp. Although some of the shuttles have gone through the stargate while it was still floating in space to grab a second stargate, Janeway and Chakotay had decided not to stay away from Voyager too long, especially since it looks like they will have their target of a dozen stargates within another two days and Destiny will soon take off for Earth. They need to supervise with the preparations. Joe Carey will call in a relief crew to take out the shuttle to resume collecting stargates.

**Voyager – Briefing Room**

Destiny had returned from the Milky Way galaxy in the Star Trek universe an hour ago. The crewmembers from Voyager had returned to Voyager via the Stargate, along with a few members from Destiny. They were in the briefing room to discuss what they had found out during Destiny's day tour in the other galaxy and to plan on what to do next.

"How was the trip in the Milky Way galaxy?" Janeway asked.

"Better than expected." Colonel Everett Young explained. "As far as Destiny can tell, it is a Milky Way galaxy, virtually identical to our own."

"Compensating for interstellar drift since Destiny left it around a million years ago, that is." Dale Volker added.

"You have seven stargates now! You don't mess around. You only started collecting them yesterday." Eli said excitedly. "We saw the seventh one be brought aboard the shuttlebay while we were there."

"You have been dialling out each time you collect a stargate to see which one takes precedence?" Asked Young.

"Of course. We took your advice." Janeway replied. "We know only one stargate works while they are in close proximity to each other. Twice we've had to rearrange the Stargates in the shuttlebay when another stargate became the dominant one." As all the stargates in their possession are of the 1.0 variety, the only way to tell which one takes precedence is to simply start dialling and see which stargate activates.

"We've also noticed how you've been storing the Stargates." Young added. While they were in the shuttlebay, they saw that apart from the dominant stargate, the ramps had been removed and the stargates had been stored one in front of the other. It was actually the second time he'd seen Stargates organised like that. The first time was on the ancient seeder ship three years ago.

"We have decided that it is the safest and most efficient way to store them." Tuvok explained. "If one of those secondary stargates should suddenly activate, the 'kawoosh' as you call it, will safely go through the gap of the stargate in front of it, and not damage anything."

"Clever." Young admitted.

"Indeed." Nicholas Rush added. "A power surge could cause a wormhole to jump to another stargate. It has happened both accidentally and intentionally in the past."

"We've also tested and confirmed that the Stargate won't activate while Voyager is at warp." Janeway revealed. Then as if anticipating their next question. "We have designated times where Voyager will drop out of warp to let the shuttlecraft come through or contact us. We will stop on the hour, every hour for ten minutes. The crews on the shuttlecraft know this."

"Destiny has the advantage in that regard." Young added. "Destiny will drop out of FTL, or warp as you call it, when it detects an incoming wormhole. Just don't contact us via Stargate if it's within four hours of us going into FTL. It damages our FTL engines."

"Sure thing. Next on the agenda. Seven has completed another two fusion reactors. That's three fusion reactors now. Seven says she will finish her fourth one tomorrow morning."

"Four fusion reactors already?" Young asked. "Isn't that ahead of schedule?"

Chakotay answered. "Yes, it is. Seven is speeding up because she's building the same thing again and again. The bad news is that she has run out of materials. After the fourth reactor, she won't have enough to build a fifth."

"We have a solution to that problem." Tuvok announced. "As well as our food problem. Our replicators aren't quite up to the task of feeding two crews. Neelix says our food stocks in the kitchen will run out in less than a month. Destiny has come up with a single planet which has an excess of both."

"Well, lets hear it." Chakotay stated.

"There is a catch, however." Eli warned.

"We've been to the planet before." Adam added.

"Apparently, Destiny knew we were planning on going back to the previous galaxy." Eli said.

"The name it came up with is in said previous galaxy." Adam revealed.

"It's the planet we dropped off the refugees. Our descendants, that is." Eli announced.

"We do have one major issue with going back there." Young warned.

"We did leave that galaxy for a very important reason." Dale Volker added.

"Drones." Rush stated the obvious. "If we gate to their planet, the drones will detect the wormhole, show up and attack us."

"We can't endanger their planet." Young stated. "The refugees just moved in a few years ago."

"We may have a way around that." Adam announced. "Tuvok, Vorik and I did discuss a possible solution when we realised which planet the coordinates were pointing to."

"We can't just travel to the Stargate at their planet. That will draw the drones there." Young advised.

"Our plan takes that into account." Adam said.

"This ought to be interesting." Said a curious Chakotay.

"We don't gate to the refugee's planet." Adam informed. "We take a shuttle through the stargate of the next closest planet in a neighbouring solar system. We then use the shuttle to warp to the refugee's planet. The drones will only be drawn to the stargate at the planet we just left. We're assuming the shuttle will be too small for the drones to track. We pick up the materials and food we need and then we go to warp and head for another stargate in yet another neighbouring solar system. Again, the drones will be drawn to that stargate, but we'll be long gone by then."

They looked at each other for several seconds, thinking. "That plan actually sounds do-able." Chakotay realised out loud.

"Not bad." Janeway agreed. "Now exactly how tough are these drones?"

"It's not how tough they are, it's how many there are that's the problem." Young answered. "Both Destiny and our shuttles have destroyed a lot of them, but more just keep coming. Although Destiny is armed, it's not actually a battleship. Destiny kept sustaining more damage after every encounter. Eventually we just had to make a run for it."

"You're fairly confident you won't encounter these drones?" Janeway asked.

"Fairly confident. The plan sounds good enough to me." Young advised.

"How about you, Tuvok?" Janeway asked.

"The plan sounds logical."

"Sounds like we have a plan." Janeway announced. "If we're after both materials and food, we'll need two shuttles. We'll test the fusion reactors tomorrow morning. If all goes well, the two shuttles will go to the other galaxy, visit the refugees, obtain the materials and food required then come back here. Two of those fusion reactors will stay plugged into Voyager's Stargate. The two shuttles will take the other two fusion reactors with them, so they'll have the power to dial back here. We'll finalize who will go on the shuttles at tonight's dinner. We'll also need to burrow the fusion reactor that's currently plugged into Destiny's stargate. You'll get it back as soon as the two shuttles are back." Janeway then looked at the others. "Anything else?"

"There is a matter of security involving Destiny." Tuvok pointed out.

"Security?" Janeway asked.

"Earlier this afternoon while on Destiny, Vorik and I attempted to interface our tricorders with Destiny only to find out that they were already synced, and Destiny had accessed all the data on them. Adam Brody said Destiny did it all by itself for the sake of gaining knowledge and that no one on Destiny is to blame. Adam may or may not be correct."

"Adam is right." Young intervened. "Destiny does that now and then. No one told it to. Not much we can do about it."

"You could have given us a heads up." Janeway pointed out.

"We didn't know Destiny would do that." Young said. "It's giving us the illusion that it's very passive. I assure you that it has no ill intent. It's a ship of exploration and it wants to know everything."

"See if you can get Destiny to not snoop so much." Janeway cautioned.

"I'll get some people on it." Young said.

Eli realised that Destiny has also hacked into the communication stones. It was the only explanation for how Ginn and Amanda Perry was able to cheat death. This also meant that Destiny had probably already accessed the minds of the Voyager crew that had used the communication stones. Eli was smart enough to keep that to himself.

"Just one more thing on the agenda." Janeway announced. "Voyager will catch up to Destiny in two days. We believe we'll have about a dozen stargates by then. We'll like to get the stargates shipped over to Destiny as soon as they rendezvous and have Destiny on its way to Earth as soon as possible."

"Why the hurry?" Young asked.

"Well, it's not so much that we should hurry." Janeway answered. "The thing is, the only real reason Destiny can't leave for Earth right now is the fact that the only thing we can't send through the Stargate are other stargates. People, material, supplies, even fusion reactors, they can go through the stargate anytime. The reasoning is, the Stargates are the only important items that need to be shipped over to Destiny before it leaves for Earth. Everything else we can worry about later."

"Good point." Young realised.

"There is one thing, the officer exchange program." Said Janeway. "At tonight's dinner we should ask both crews which ship they want to be on. Voyager or Destiny. Length of stay isn't important. Maybe we can have a rotation program in effect."

"Sounds good. Accommodation will be easy. Although the whole crew on Destiny have their own quarters, it's a big ship. We still have half a dozen rooms available. We don't even know how many more crew quarters will be discovered as we gain access to more of the ship. As for incentive. We'll be sure to point out to the Voyager crew about the incredible secrets that Destiny contains. That should convince some of them to spend time on Voyager." Young pointed out. "It might look like a derelict ship, but it is a lot more advanced than Voyager. We've only been able to access about a third of the ship. We don't even know what other secrets it contains. Once we access the rest of the ship and completely repair it, I assure you, it will be one incredible ship."

"I don't doubt that." Janeway agreed.

"One more thing." Young added. "We've given you almost free access to Destiny. We are wondering what Voyager can offer us?"

"Oh?" Janeway replied. "Do you have anything in mind?"

"I'm thinking of maybe installing replicators on Voyager. Also, a holodeck."

Some of the Voyager crew members looked at each other for a few seconds. Janeway thought for a bit before answering. "That would be difficult. It's not that we're refusing. What we're saying is, both the replicators and the holodeck are deeply ingrained with the ship. The crew have had a lot of practice repairing them over the years but installing one from scratch is a great deal more difficult."

Harry Kim added. "The simple answer is, although it's possible, by the time we actually manage to install replicators or a holodeck on Destiny, Destiny will arrive at our Earth. By then we'll have the resources of Starfleet at our disposal. They'll be able to install them a lot easier.

Janeway said. "We'll continue sharing the replicators with the Destiny crew. You'll still be having awesome deserts. As for the holodeck. We'll schedule times for the Destiny crew to access it." This put smiles on a lot of people's faces from Destiny.

"I believe we've covered everything on the agenda." Announced Janeway. "We'll see you at dinner tonight."

**Voyager – Shuttlebay – the next morning.**

"All aboard!" Tom Paris ordered. Eli Wallace, Chloe Armstrong, Lt. Matthew Scott, Tamara Johansen, Ronald Greer and Lisa Park walked into one of the shuttlecrafts. Eli was the most excited to get to be a passenger in one of Voyager's shuttlecrafts. Another six Destiny crew members walked into a second shuttle. There were seats set up on the sides of the shuttle. So there were three members on each side facing each other.

"Here is a recap of the plan." Janeway announced to everyone. She had tapped her commbadge and activated its audio linkup to the two shuttles so she knew everyone in them could hear her. "First, we see if this Stargate can access the Stargate in the other galaxy with two fusion reactors. If so, we send the two shuttles through with the other two fusion reactors. You'll immediately run the test with those other two fusion reactors at the other end. After the test, warp to the refugee planet. Find food and materials to make more fusion reactors. Having done that, you'll warp to another stargate on another planet and come back here. Seven, power up the fusion reactors."

Seven switched on one of the fusion reactors, then the second one. She turned the power dial on one of the reactors up to ten percent. They could hear the hum of the two reactors. As the two fusion reactors were now daisy-chained together, the power dial on the other fusion reactor also went up to ten percent. It had been configured to automatically copy the power level of the first reactor.

"Ten per cent. Twenty percent." Seven announced. She kept counting up until one minute later… "100 percent."

"The number of Stargates are increasing." Dale Volker announced in the second shuttle. He was looking at the list of stargates on the display screen of the kino remote in his hands. Although he was in a shuttle, everyone in the second shuttle and outside in the shuttle bay could hear his voice due to the audio link hook-up.

"Same here." Said Eli in the first shuttle who also had a kino remote. "It's detecting a lot of Stargates."

"Any with more than seven co-ordinates?" Called out Everett Young. Young was standing next to Janeway in the shuttlebay hangar.

"Not yet." Eli replied. "Wait! We have eight symbol addresses!"

"Same here." Dale Volker agreed. "Do you see the two stargate addresses we'll be using today?"

"We'll never find it in a list this big. We'll just have to dial it in manually. Tom will, actually." Eli said. Janeway had decided earlier that Tom Paris will be using his kino datapad to dial the stargate. Tom Paris and Harry Kim were in the two pilot seats at the front of the shuttle. Tom dialled the symbols manually. When he dialled the eighth symbol there was a match in the list, but it was locked out. Because of the Stargate hunting that Tom Paris had participated in the last two days, he already knew how to bypass it. They watched the Stargate in front of them start rotating. The two shuttles were hovering about ten metres in front of the Stargate.

"Looking good so far." Tom said. Eventually all eight symbols lit up on the Stargate and the whoosh came out of the Stargate before settling back into the event horizon. Everybody cheered. This was the first time the Destiny crew have seen a Stargate successfully have a lock-on with a Stargate in another galaxy in three years with no harmful side effects.

"I have the transmitter." Janeway said. She turned it on then threw it into the Stargate. "We have a signal!" She was happier than usual because they had deliberately chosen a stargate which was locked out. This was so they wouldn't accidentally lead the drones to an inhabited planet. The kino datapad in her hand was picking up the radio signal of the transmitter which was now on another planet in another galaxy. "Sending in the kino." They saw the hovering black square kino float toward the stargate and disappear into the event horizon. A live video feed appeared on the kino datapads. It showed a barren, desert planet. The sensors on the kino transmitted information about the planet.

"Very thin atmosphere." Dale translated the readout from ancient into English. "Minus twenty-five degrees Celsius. Small planet. Similar to Mars. As long as we stay inside the shuttles, we'll be safe."

"Looks like this it." Janeway announced. "Have a nice trip. Hope to see you back here in one piece. God speed." Tom Paris inched the shuttle forward. Everybody in the shuttle saw the stargate getting closer through the forward screen. Then as the shuttle started entering the stargate, they all see the blue ripples of the event horizon penetrate the shuttle. They saw it envelope Tom Paris and Harry Kim first, then they saw it envelop the passengers two by two. The first shuttle disappeared in the Stargate. Janeway, Everett and the people in the second shuttle watched the live kino video feed which showed the shuttle coming out of the Stargate on the distant planet. This was the signal for the second shuttle to enter the stargate. This was piloted by Tuvok and Seven. They were both wearing spacesuits as they were anticipating a poor environment considering they were going to a Stargate which was locked out. As Seven had run out of materials to make fusion reactors, there was no reason for her to stay on Voyager. The second shuttle disappeared into the event horizon.

**Stargate – The other galaxy**

On the distant planet, as soon as the second shuttle exited the Stargate, both shuttles settled down beside it, their back doors facing the Stargate. Tuvok opened the back door. A force field activated over the opening. This one was configured to hold in the atmosphere only. Seven grabbed the power cable that was connected to the fusion reactor in the back of the shuttle, before exiting the shuttle through the force field. Tuvok exited the shuttle and walked over to the second shuttle. Harry Kim opened the back door of the shuttle, atmosphere force field in place, then handed the power cable to Tuvok. Tuvok dragged one end of the power cable back to the other shuttle and plugged the power cable back into the first fusion reactor. The fusion reactors were already designed to be connected to each other as this was how they were setup on the Borg cube. Tuvok and Seven had decided to use this feature as this meant they only had to connect one fusion reactor to the Stargate. After Seven had connected the power cable, she spoke into the communicator in her helmet as she was unable to tap her commbadge through the hard spacesuit.

"Turn on the fusion reactors." Tuvok complied and turned on the fusion reactor. Harry Kim turned on the other one. Seven notified Janeway. "Janeway, both fusion reactors are turned on and connected to the Stargate. We are ready to run the test."

"Affirmative. I'll dial down the fusion reactors here myself." They all heard Janeway's voice through the intercom. Janeway was still watching them through the kino video feed. "I'm ready. Go ahead, Seven."

"Ten percent." Seven announced. She had turned the power dial on one of the fusion reactors up to ten percent. The second fusion reactor copied the power level and also went up to ten percent.

"Ninety percent." Janeway called out. Janeway had started dialling down the power level at her end.

"Twenty percent." Seven said.

"Eighty percent." Janeway said.

"What is this test?" Chloe asked. "What are they doing?"

"They're going to see if the Stargate stays active." Eli replied. "As Janeway dials down power at her end and Seven increases power at this end, if the Stargate stays active, we'll know that we can transfer which end is supplying power from one end to the other." They continued listening to the countdown.

"Thirty percent." They heard Janeway's voice over the speaker. The anticipation was building as they all looked out the open back door of the shuttle at the still active stargate.

"Eighty percent." Seven continued.

"Twenty percent." Janeway stated.

"Ninety percent." Seven reported.

"Ten percent." Janeway said.

"One hundred percent." Seven said.

"Zero percent! Stargate is still active!" Janeway exulted. Everybody in the two shuttles cheered as well as everyone who was watching in the shuttlebay back on Voyager. "Continue with the next step. I'll shut down the Stargate. Tom, dial us back." They all saw the Stargate shut down. Tom dialled the Stargate on Voyager. He had to double-check the seventh and eighth symbols with Eli to make sure he got the correct home symbol and galaxy. The two fusion reactors were still at 100 percent. The Stargate activated and they saw the whoosh sprout out of the Stargate. As the energy settled back into the glowing rippling blue of the event horizon, they heard…

**Voyager – Shuttlebay**

"Well done team." Janeway said into her commbadge while looking at the active Stargate.

"Good job." Everett Young said, who was still standing beside Janeway.

"Proceed with the mission." Janeway instructed. "Over and out." Janeway and Young watched the Stargate deactivate. "So, Everett, you think they can do it?"

"Well, your team have been surviving six and a half years on Voyager. My team for either two years or five, depending. If anyone can do this, it's them."

"I'm sure they can." Janeway said with a smile.

"I've come up with an idea which I'll need to run by you." Young remembered. He looked over to the larger shuttle parked in the shuttlebay. "It regards the Delta Flyer."

**Shuttlecraft – the other galaxy**

"You know I was paying attention during dinner last night when they talked about the test with the Stargates." Matthew Scott said. "This means when two shuttles head for Earth, that is, our Stargate Earth, we'll be able to take the fusion reactors with us."

"Sure does." Eli confirmed. "It will make galaxy hopping a whole lot easier. It has now become a whole lot more possible that we will get home to our Earth."

"That's great!" Chloe agreed.

"So, what do we do now? It never occurred to me to bring a book." Eli pointed out. After they had shut down the Stargate, both shuttlecraft had left the planet and set off for the refugee planet. It will take three hours to get there at the shuttle's maximum warp speed.

"Tell some stories?" Chloe suggested.

"Whatever you do, don't sing Kumbaya." Said Ronald Greer. Several people laughed.

"Stories it is." Lisa Park said. "Who wants to start?" They all looked at each other.

"Eli. I just realised." Chloe remembered. "You never said what happened after all of us were put into stasis. We were all too busy with gaining food and other resources after we came out of stasis, I don't think anyone ever asked you what happened."

"Umm, yeah. Has anyone else got any stories?" Eli responded.

"Eli!" Everyone said in unison.

"Oh crap. Well, yeah, I guess. I thought I'd point out, something weird happened. You might have trouble believing it."

"Oh, it just gets more and more interesting." Ronald Greer realised. "You just have to tell us now."

"Okay. Oh well, here goes nothing. You heard how I was having trouble getting my stasis pod to work?"

"Yeah." A few people replied.

"Well. I never fixed it."

"Huh?" Matthew asked. Everybody looked at Eli.

"I never fixed the stasis pod." Eli repeated. There was silence from the group as they all stared at Eli.

* * *

Have you ever wondered how the people on Destiny managed to connect the laptops so easily to Destiny? Now I've provided an explanation: Destiny did all the work. It hacked into their wi-fi and provided the connection itself. We'll just say this happened between episodes on SGU season one.

I've discovered an important writing tip: Now and then I have to skip or summarise parts here and there in order to get the story moving. I don't want this story to get as large as a novel. I'm up to chapter 13 and we STILL haven't left for Earth yet! So I'll be summarising parts here and there to speed up the pace. Don't worry, I'll keep all the good parts in.

Next chapter: Eli explains what happened on Destiny after everyone else was put into Stasis. Then, we finally have ACTION! The next chapter is titled "Revenge of the Drones". Their mission to obtain resources is NOT going to go as well as expected.


	14. Revenge of the Drones

I realised the last time I watched season two of Destiny that the viewers never saw the planet they eventually placed their descendants on because they were dropped off between episodes. They left planet Novus with the refugees at the end of one episode and in the next episode the descendants had already left the ship. We never found out anything about the planet or even its name. So I get to make it all up.

Warning, this is a really big chapter with a lot of twists and turns and action. You won't be able to put this chapter down until it's finished.

* * *

**Chapter 14 – Revenge of the Drones**

**Shuttlecraft – At warp between the class L planet and the refugee planet**

"What do you mean, you never fixed it?" Chloe Armstrong asked in disbelief. "You came out of stasis at the same time as the rest of us. Your pod is working just fine."

"It's working now. But it wasn't me who fixed it." Eli Wallace said.

"Who fixed it?" Chloe asked.

"It would be better if I explain from the beginning. After everyone was put into stasis, I started examining the pod. All the damage was in the circuit board behind the panel. I managed to detach it from the pod but still connected by cables. The more I examined it, the more I realised that it was completely deteriorated due to extreme old age. I examined the other remaining empty pods, to see if I could swap parts out, only to find out they were in even worse condition. I've had experience fixing computers both back on Earth and here on Destiny, but any parts I find in this bad a condition I always just replace. But that was not an option this time. I did try to repair it, but any attempt to solder a part just melts the circuitry I'm trying to repair. I realised I didn't have the correct tools to fix it. There was too much micro circuitry damaged. I eventually was forced to come to the conclusion that I was out of options. That was it. It was the end of me. I was running out of time and didn't want to use too much power from Destiny. I had even come up with a way to finish myself off."

Eli didn't say anything for several seconds, so Greer asked, "How were you going to do that?"

"It's, umm, better if I don't answer that. But it was while I was thinking about it, that from behind me I suddenly heard a voice say 'Eli.'"

Everyone's eyes widened.

"I must have jumped about a foot off the ground and I screamed!" Eli exclaimed. "I lost my footing and collapsed. I looked around trying to catch my breath and standing before me was Ginn."

"Ginn?" Matthew Scott asked. "She's dead."

"In a sense." Eli explained. "Remember her memories were copied to Destiny through the Communication Stones."

"Oh, you mean the hologram thing. Where only one person can see her at a time." Scott remembered.

"That's right." Eli confirmed.

"Wait." Chloe realized. "Wasn't Ginn and Amanda Perry locked away. Isolated? You did it yourself."

"Yes, but I'll get to that. Let me continue." Eli said.

**Destiny – Stasis Pod Room – 3 years ago**

Ginn was standing, looking over Eli who had collapsed on the ground. Ginn announced, "Eli, you have not yet exhausted all resources available to you."

"Ginn! Holy crap! You just about gave me a heart attack!" Eli stammered between breaths. "How can you be here?!"

"You are too narrow minded." Ginn said matter-of-factly. "It stops you from seeing the big picture. You have overlooked a very useful tool."

"Oh, hi Eli." Eli said sarcastically, mocking Ginn. "Happy to see you. It's not so fun being locked away in Destiny's computer." Eli became himself again and asked, "How did you get out of the virtual reality prison?"

"There is not much time. There is a way to fix the stasis pod." Ginn stated.

"Ginn, what's with you? Aren't you happy to see me?"

"The repair robot. You have overlooked it."

"Okay, Ginn. So much for getting reacquainted. Straight to business then. I haven't overlooked the repair bot. I thought of that. I've already examined all the equipment that the repair bot has. It doesn't have any tools for repairing micro-circuitry. It's more for repairing larger damage such as hull breaches. That's why it did such a great job repairing the dome. Well, before we shattered it going through the blue supergiant in the last galaxy, that is."

"Program it to repair the stasis pod."

"It won't be able to."

"Yes, it can."

"Okay, I'll give it a go, if only to prove you wrong." Eli made his way out of the stasis pod room, followed by Ginn. He soon found himself in the Control Interface Room. Eli operated one of the computer consoles. Before too long he had brought up the command menu for the repair bot. The screen revealed two repair bots which reminded Eli that there were two of them now. The second one was obtained from the second Destiny that they managed to ransack shortly before it fell into a star. He will only need one repair bot for this. "It's not like I have anything to lose. I think I've got it. Let's see how far the bot gets. It will be interesting to see what a repair bot looks like when it's scratching its head. Here goes nothing." Eli finished entering the command. "The repair bot should activate and head for the stasis pod room. I'll meet it there." Eli headed off for the stasis pod room. He had just arrived there when he heard metallic footsteps approaching. Eli watched the repair bot appear in the doorway then walk into the room. The repair bot doesn't look human and has four legs. It has a roughly round body which consists of an odd assortment of repair tools which can extend out of its body. Eli pointed to the circuit panel dangling by several cables from the side of the stasis pod. "There it is." He said to the bot. He had no idea if the bot could understand him. It didn't matter as he had already given specific instructions on the computer console back in the Control Interface Room. He stood back as the repair bot approached the pod. He and Ginn watched it as it took a closer look at the circuit board. It appeared to be scanning it. Two mechanical arms and tools extended out of the body and Eli watched it start working on the board. Eli was sure that there was no way it could repair it with the tools that it had. Then Eli took a closer look and realised that the bot was disconnecting the cables one by one. Within a few minutes it had managed to completely detach the board from the stasis pod.

"What are you up to now?" Eli asked the bot. The bot seemed to ignore him. It held the circuit board in one of its mechanical hands. It then turned around and started to make its way out of the stasis pod room. "Where are you going?" He asked the bot. It continued to ignore him and continued to make its way plodding along down a corridor, followed by Eli and Ginn. Eventually it made its way to a door with an 'X' written on it in chalk. Eli knew what the 'X' meant. "Uh, oh. There's no air on the other side of the door." Eli prepared to back out of there and run as far as he could before the repair bot opened the door to an unpressurised section of the ship.

"Wait." Ginn said. Eli looked and realised the repair bot was looking at him. Then the repair bot turned and headed off in another direction. "Okay, looks like we have a change of plan."

"No, it didn't want to endanger you. It is taking a different route to its destination." Ginn explained. Eli and Ginn followed the robot again. It made its way to an elevator. It was the same elevator Eli and Chloe used to escape the Lucian Alliance when they stormed Destiny over three years ago. This elevator could go not only vertically, but horizontally to other parts of the ship. The repair bot walked into the elevator. "Do not enter the elevator." Ginn told Eli. They watched the repair bot disappear from view as the doors closed. "It is making its way to the same unpressurized section it was before." They heard the elevator depart.

"What now?" Eli asked.

"Now we wait." Ginn replied. Eli couldn't think of anything else to do so he waited.

A little over an hour later they heard the elevator chime. The elevator doors opened revealing the repair bot holding the circuit board in its mechanical hand. Eli moved out of the way as the robot again made its way to the stasis pod room. Eli and Ginn followed. The robot started reattaching the circuit board back to the cables in the stasis pod. At one point, Eli managed to get a close look at the circuit board. After three minutes all the cables were attached. The repair bot then operated the controls. Eli recognised the sequence. The robot was doing a diagnostic check of the pod. Before too long the stasis pod lights were all in the green.

"The stasis pod is fully functional!" Eli exclaimed, wide-eyed.

"Correct. You can now put yourself into stasis." Ginn confirmed.

"Good job, repair bot." Eli congratulated the robot. Again, Eli had no idea if the robot could understand him. The robot looked at him, then turned away and walked out of the stasis pod room, to the same room it had activated. There, it will shut down.

"I thought the robot replaced the circuit board." Eli realised. He was reading the display on the stasis pod. "But it's the same one. I got a close look when the bot was re-attaching it to the cables. I recognised some of the scratches and dents on it. It somehow managed to repair the damaged circuits."

"You don't have much time. The power levels of Destiny…" Ginn started to explain.

"I'll put myself into stasis real soon. Don't worry about that. But first." Eli turned to face Ginn. "Did you really think you could fool me?"

"Explain." Ginn replied.

"You're not Ginn."

"Who am I?" Ginn asked.

"You're Destiny. You did the same thing to Rush. You appeared before him as Jeremy Franklin. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you helped me. But you didn't have to fool me. I wanted to live."

"You needed assistance. I assisted." Ginn said without emotion.

"Why don't you help us get home? I don't mean now. Right now, we're running from the drones. But you haven't provided any assistance in the past helping us find a way back home to Earth." Eli asked Destiny.

"Do you really want to?" Ginn asked.

Eli thought for a bit. "Umm, good point. But the rest of the crew. They're really homesick."

"You'll find a way home, eventually. A fully repaired Destiny is capable of sending you home."

"Really?" Eli asked.

Ginn vanished into thin air right in front of him.

"Okay, then. Stasis pod it is." Eli remarked to himself. Eli finished shutting down the rest of the non-essential systems. Then he set the timer on the stasis pod before entering it. He mentally counted down the timer. Then the pod activated and Eli was put into suspended animation.

**Shuttlecraft – At warp between the class L planet and the refugee planet – 3 years later**

"Next thing I know I was awoken out of stasis. It felt like only a few seconds had passed." Eli explained.

"Destiny saved you." Chloe realised.

"Destiny knew the stasis pod could be fixed." Dale Volker's voice said over the intercom.

"That means there's some kind of mechanical workshop somewhere on Destiny which can fix broken parts." Rush's voice also came over the speaker.

"That's where the repair bot went." Adam Brody agreed, his voice also heard over the intercom. Then Eli heard more voices from the other shuttle.

"Way to go, Eli!" Vanessa James congratulated.

"Good job, Eli." Camile Wray agreed.

"You smashed the odds, Eli. Great job!" Varro added.

"The intercom link is still up? You mean everybody on the second shuttle heard me tell that story?" Eli asked into the intercom.

"Yes, but you said it so great!" Vanessa said.

"Awkward!" Eli responded. Eli thought of those experiences as personal because he saw, or briefly thought he saw Ginn. He was originally only planning on telling Chloe about it if he managed to get her alone and the time was right. He had no intention of telling everyone about it. Now everyone on both Destiny and Voyager will eventually know. "Anyone else have any stories?" Eli asked, desperately trying to get the focus off him.

In the other shuttle, Tuvok and Seven were struggling to get out of their cumbersome spacesuits, being helped by members of Destiny. Adam and Dale were more than happy to help Seven get out of the bulky outfit, revealing her skin-tight suit underneath.

Almost three hours later, after quite a few stories and adventures had been told by people from both Destiny and Voyager, the talk had since turned into casual conversation and small talk. A beeping noise emitted from the front console.

"We're arriving at our destination." Tom Paris announced. "Bringing us out of warp…now." He operated the controls and both shuttlecraft came out of warp. The second shuttlecraft controls were set on autopilot to follow the first shuttle, so it came out of warp right beside the first shuttle. Everybody looked out the forward viewscreen and saw one planet dead ahead. It looked a lot like Earth except all the continents were shaped differently. The planet was slowly getting larger as the shuttles approached it.

"I never thought I'd see this planet again." Matthew Scott said.

"Same here." Lisa Park agreed.

"Planet Tareeno." TJ announced.

"I hope our descendants are doing okay." Eli hoped out loud.

"It's just as beautiful as I remember." Chloe said in wonder.

Tuvok's voice came over the intercom. "Tom, Harry, scan the planet. I'm picking up a lot of activity in the atmosphere and in the space above it." Tom and Harry both started pressing buttons on their consoles.

"Uh, oh." Harry Kim said nervously.

"This could be bad." Tom agreed.

"What's going on?" Matthew asked.

"We're picking up a lot of weapons fire. Lasers, missiles." Tom answered. "There's a lot of small aircraft in the area. Also in outer space just above the atmosphere."

"It looks like there's some kind of war on." Harry added. "Only half of the aircraft we're picking up have pilots in them."

"Oh crap." Eli realised.

"Drones." Matthew agreed.

"There'll be at least one mother ship there controlling the drones." They heard Rush say over the intercom. If you destroy it the drones will go offline."

"I found the mother ship." They heard Tuvok say.

"So have I." Harry announced. "It's just above the atmosphere above the largest city."

"The small manned aircraft appear to be fighter jets." Tom Paris said after analysing the readings on his display. "They're fighting the drones."

"Haven't you guys got something called proton torpedoes?" Matthew asked.

"Nope. Phasers only." Tom replied. "We're going to have to get closer to attack it."

"The drones will protect it." Eli warned.

"We can do it." Harry said.

"Yeah, I'm sure we could. But first, we're not taking passengers into a combat zone." Tom pointed out. "We need to put these people in the other shuttle."

"Back to back." Harry pointed out.

"Yeah. We can do that." Tom said. Tom looked around to see the others looking quizzically at them. "What Harry means is we back the two shuttles back to back. We combine the shields then open the back hatches. We can transfer the passengers across."

"Too late." Tuvok's voice came over the intercom.

"They're making a beeline straight for us." Harry warned. "They'll be here in less than five seconds!"

"Raising shields." Tom announced. "Tuvok, we'll head right for them at maximum speed. High speed pass. Firing phasers! Evasive manoeuvres! Hold on to something!" Tom started firing phasers at the incoming drones. Tom saw one drone blow up at a direct hit. He then took out a second drone. He saw the other shuttle destroy one. He saw about a dozen other drones streak past at high speed. A few of them fired lasers at him but at that speed they all missed.

"Why did we head right for them?!" Chloe asked in disbelief.

"Because there's no way they can get a clear shot at this speed." Tom replied. "It will also take them a moment to turn around to make another pass at us. How many are there?" Tom asked.

"About fifteen in that group, but another thirty just broke off from engaging the jet fighters in the atmosphere." Harry answered. "They're gaining altitude. It looks like they're heading right for us. They'll be here in about five minutes. There are also another forty drones in formation around the mother ship. They're maintaining position. Looks like they're protecting it."

"There's too many of them." Tom realised. "It's like you guys said." Tom motioned back to the passengers behind them. "We can shoot some of them easy, but they'll eventually take us out through sheer numbers."

"The group we passed are in pursuit." Harry informed them. "We're accelerating but so are they. They're gaining on us."

"And we're also heading for the second group that just left the planet. What are our options?" Tom asked.

"Warp out of here or fight." Harry answered.

"Normally I'd love to fight but going into combat with all these passengers?" Tom gestured at the Destiny crew members sitting in the back. "I'm reckless but not that reckless."

"Maybe we should take it up with the crew?" Harry offered.

"I concur." Tuvok said over the intercom. "We are explorers, not soldiers. We should take it to a vote."

"Okay, then. Anyone who wants to fight, say 'Aye'!" Tom announced.

"Aye!" All six passengers as well as Harry said simultaneously.

"Aye!" They all heard over the intercom.

"That's all six passengers on our shuttle as well." Tuvok announced.

"That's pretty well unanimous." Harry said.

"We attack." Tom Paris declared.

"I can't believe I agreed so quickly." Chloe realised.

"Take out the mother ship." Matthew said to Tom. "All the drones will deactivate. A high-speed strike. Just like we did with the drones one minute ago."

"The drones will protect it." Eli warned.

"Not just a high-speed strike." Tom said. "A warp strike. We'll do a short warp right to the mother ship, come out of warp, open up with a salvo of phaser strikes, then clear out."

"That sounds logical." Tuvok said over the intercom.

"Let's do it. But first, put your seat belts on." Tom instructed. "Things are going to get hairy." Harry instructed them how to extract the seat belts out of the walls and put them on. Once everyone was secure on both shuttles, they altered course to head for the drone mother ship.

"There is a catch, however." Tuvok warned. "If we fail to destroy the mother ship in the first strike, we won't have the power to go to warp again for a few minutes. We would be within firing range of the mother ship and a rather large number of drones."

"Just do it." Matthew said.

"We're doing it. Setting co-ordinates for warp." Tom announced. "This will bring us out of warp three miles from the mother ship. Transmitting warp co-ordinates to Tuvok. Tuvok, you have it?"

"Affirmative." Came Tuvok's voice over the intercom.

"We'll fire phasers the instant we come out of warp." Tom announced. "We have to time this exactly! Harry, give us a five second countdown."

"Five, four." Harry started. All the passengers in the back could see looking out the forward screen was planet Tareeno filling the lower half of the view. The mother ship was still too far away to see. "Three, two, one."

"Warp!" Tom announced. There was a momentary flash of light as the two shuttles came out of warp one eighth of a second later. The forward view was now half taken up by the mother ship three miles in front of them. The planet was behind the mother ship and blocked all view of space.

"Firing phasers!" Tom announced. Tom as well as Tuvok in the other shuttle fired a volley of phasers at the mother ship. They scored direct hits and they saw impacts exploding across the surface of the ship. Then they all saw the drones quickly move to intercept. Within three seconds they moved between the two shuttles and the mother ship. The crews of the two shuttles watched in disbelief as the drones kamikazed themselves into the phasers. The other drones, as well as the mother ship started firing at the two shuttles.

"Evasive manoeuvres!" Tom announced. The two shuttles sharply veered away from the mother ship. Not only were Tom and Tuvok avoiding the lasers from the mother ship and the drones, they found themselves dodging the drones themselves as some of them were trying to kamikaze with the shuttles. Although the passengers were secure in their seatbelts, they found themselves holding on to whatever they could as well as each other, as it now became a very bumpy ride.

Tuvok's voice came over the intercom. "We did not give anywhere near enough damage to destroy the mother ship before the drones intercepted us."

"Gee, ya' think?" Tom replied.

"We would have no hope of surviving a second strike at them." Tuvok announced.

"Sensors count 62 drones attacking us. Half of them are pursuing us, the rest are spread out all around us." Harry reported.

"We've been hit!" Tuvok's voice came over the intercom. The passengers in the back all looked at each other in alarm. Tom could see the other shuttle. There were a few sparks emitting from it, but it still seemed to be flying under Tuvok's control."

"We're okay." They heard Seven's voice. "But our warp engine is offline."

"We can't leave them!" Harry said.

"I know! Let's get some space between us and the drones!" Tom said. There were still a few drones in front of them that they were dodging.

"Look out!" Harry shouted. The passengers saw one drone in front make a kamikaze run for the shuttle. Tom veered off as quickly as he could.

BANG!

They felt the shuttle suddenly lurch to the right and sparks burst from a few seams in the walls. The women in the shuttle screamed.

"We're okay!" Tom managed to shout. "That drone sideswiped the shields, not us! We're okay."

"Our shields are down to 21%!" Harry warned.

"Yeah, we've got to make a run for it." Tom realised. "Any idea where?"

"The planet." They heard Tuvok say. "There are no drones between us and it."

"Let's go." Tom said. Both shuttles altered course and divebombed directly for the planet below.

"All the drones are following us!" Seven reported. Seeing how close they already were to the planet, it only took several seconds for them to hit the upper atmosphere. Although both shuttlecraft were already making wildly erratic course changes to dodge the lasers of the drones pursuing them, everybody started noticing the shuttlecraft start to shake and buffet wildly. Again, the passengers tried to hold onto something. They realised it was a good thing they were already secure in their seats otherwise they all would have been thrown out of them.

"What's happening now?!" Chloe shrieked.

"That's turbulence! We're in the planet's atmosphere!" Matthew replied. They all looked out the forward screen and it started to glow red. Tom noticed their speed was increasing rapidly now that it was gravity assisted in the dive. They weren't able to slow down because the drones were still in pursuit right behind them.

"Any options on how to lose the drones?" Tom asked. They were heading for the city directly below them, but they also knew that the native fighter jets were also fighting more drones below them there.

"There is a large thunderstorm 500 kilometres due south of the city." Seven answered. Tom looked away from the city and could see thick clouds in the distance. He even saw a couple of flashes.

"It's our only chance. Let's go for it." Tom announced. He and Tuvok altered course, heading for the thick thunderclouds. It was getting harder to see with the red friction getting thicker as the atmosphere hit the shields at several thousand miles per hour. The crew could now hear the friction of the air being superheated and rushing around the shields. It came as a dull roar. As the two shuttles started to level out, Tom noticed the shuttles starting to slow, due to the huge resistance created by the atmosphere hitting the forward shields at high speed.

"The drones are closing the distance." They heard Seven say. Both shuttles were still weaving up and down, left and right, trying to make it as hard as possible for the drones to shoot them with their lasers. The red heat haze in front of them wasn't obscuring their vision, it was just giving a red tint to the view. So Tom, Harry, Tuvok and Seven could see lasers streaking by them as they missed the shuttles. But now and then they could hear a 'thud' as a laser impacted the rear shields. The thuds were starting to gain in frequency as the drones got closer and their accuracy increased.

"Shields are at six per-cent!" Harry exclaimed nervously.

"Almost there!" Tom yelled. They could see the thunderstorm getting larger as they approached it. It was now filling up the forward view. Clouds were being lit up indicating a very active lightning storm within. From what Chloe could see from her side seat, it looked like they were about to crash into the clouds. She had to remind herself that clouds are not a solid object. Then suddenly they were in the clouds. It showed the passengers how fast they were really moving when they saw the speed at which the clouds whipped by the shuttles. They now had a frame of reference for the speed. The decelerating of the shuttles and the water vapour of the clouds quickly dissipated the red glow of the friction at the front of the shields. They were all hoping for a clear view but instead all they could see were thick clouds as they sped through the storm. The buffeting became a lot stronger. High winds in the storm was causing a lot of turbulence. Combined with the flashes of the lightning lighting up the clouds, it looked to the passengers in both shuttles as the scariest roller coaster ride imaginable.

Just when Chloe thought it couldn't get any worse, suddenly the dull roar became a very loud roar. She looked toward the front but the only thing she could see out the front windshield was the rippling of the shield. The rippling was so bad Chloe couldn't see anything past the shields. Chloe saw Harry desperately pressing buttons on the console. Chloe held Matthew's arm so tight her nails were digging into Matthew's wrist. Matthew had to remove her hand from his wrist and then put her hand in his hand.

"It's hail! We're flying through a hailstorm!" Harry Kim exclaimed after analysing the readout.

"Are we still being followed?" Paris asked.

"Hard to say. This storm is messing with the sensors." Harry replied. "I can tell they're still behind us, but they might be falling back. Oh, crap! Shields are at two percent!"

"Get behind us!" Tuvok's voice shouted through the speaker, slightly garbled. "Our shields are still at thirty-five percent."

"Right behind you!" Tom said. He couldn't see anything out the front viewscreen, just the ripples of the shield. He quickly pressed buttons and programmed the autopilot to follow the other shuttle at a range of five metres.

Lisa Park looked out the front and saw the number of impact ripples reduce revealing a view of the back of the other shuttle flying right in front of them. There were still impact ripples at the edges of the view screen.

"Shields are down!" Harry announced. The impact ripples disappeared, and Lisa could now clearly see the other shuttle in front of them. The sound of the hail impacts changed as the hail was now hitting the shuttle instead of the shields. The shields of the shuttle in front of them were still up and that was clearing the way for their own shuttle but the wind was so severe, Lisa could tell by the turbulence, that hail was still managing to hit the shuttle from other angles.

"Sensors are a bit clearer with the shields down. There are no drones behind us." Harry reported.

"What happened to them?" Tom asked.

"Not sure. I think they were destroyed by the hailstorm. How fast are we going?" Harry asked.

"We're still slowing down. Right now, we're doing Mach 1.5."

"The drones don't have shields." Matthew pointed out. He surmised. "They would have been destroyed by the hailstorm. If the drones were keeping up with us, then the hail would have hit them at the speed of bullets."

Ronald Greer said. "It would be like getting fired upon by dozens of machine guns simultaneously. Yeah, I bet they're gone."

Suddenly the loud roar subsided.

"We're out of the hailstorm." Tom announced. A few seconds later the clouds cleared revealing a clear blue sunny day. "We're out of the storm. Anything on the sensors?" He asked Harry.

"The storm is giving lots of interference but it's not picking up any drones." They continued to wait for a minute, but no drones came out of the storm.

"Greer's right. The drones are destroyed." Tom announced. Everybody on both shuttles cheered. Tom reprogrammed the autopilot so it was flying alongside the other shuttle. Tuvok had deactivated the shields on his shuttle.

"What do we do now?" Tom asked.

"We contact the residents here." Harry figured. He operated the controls. "I'm not picking up anything on any frequency."

"Try radio, not subspace." Matthew pointed out.

"Oh, yeah." Harry remembered. "We've actually been to Earth in the 1990's. I can't believe I forgot." He pressed a few buttons on his console.

"Come in. I repeat, we are contacting the two spacecraft that just came out of the storm. Come in." They heard from the speakers.

"That is coming from the jet fighter that is approaching us." They heard Tuvok say in the other shuttle.

Tom responded to the jet fighter pilot. "This is Tom Paris. I am the pilot from one of the shuttles."

"Thank you for helping us out back there. We saw you being chased by the drones. You will now be escorted to our air force base." Came the military disciplined no-nonsense voice. Right after he finished talking, Tom and Harry saw the jet fighter come up alongside the shuttle. Matthew undid his seatbelt, stood up and leaned over beside Tom so he could look out the forward window.

"Wow! Check out the jet fighter!" Matthew exclaimed joyfully. It didn't look all that different from a jet fighter from Earth. The only reason Matthew knew it was not from Earth was that he knew a lot about jet fighters from Earth and he didn't recognise this one.

"What do we do now?" Tom asked Harry.

"I suggest we do as he says." They heard Tuvok answer.

"Where is the air force base?"

"It's behind us on the other side of the storm you just went through."

"Okay." Tom responded to the pilot. "But can we go around the storm this time?"

**Planet Tareeno – Air Force Base – Shuttlecraft – 35 minutes later**

Chloe slowly managed to get up out of her seat. Her legs were shaking, and she could barely get them to move. She slowly made her way to the rear of the shuttle. She noticed the guys were eager to check out the air force base. They had left the shuttle leaving the women struggling to get up after their wild ride. TJ had checked her over and Lisa Park. Luckily, they were only suffering from shock. TJ helped both Lisa and Chloe leave the shuttle.

"That was a hell of a lot scarier than the scariest roller coaster I've ever been on." Remarked Chloe breathlessly.

"You're not kidding." TJ added. She turned to Tom Paris. "What the hell kind of a ride was that? I can't believe you put us all into danger like that."

"You all volunteered." Paris replied. "We also only had your intel of the drones to go on."

Out in the sunshine they were amazed at how much this planet looked like Earth. They could see a couple of runways, larger aircraft which resembled airliners, more air force planes and what looked like airport terminals. They could even see buildings in the distance. They looked around and noticed that both shuttle craft had landed right at the front of a large aircraft hangar which had its doors wide open.

"This looks like both an airport and an air force base." TJ pointed out.

"Correct." An air force officer who approached them confirmed. "Brendalpine airport is on one side, Brendalpine air force base is on the other. And in the hangar here, we have the…"

"Stargate!" Several Destiny crew members pointed out. The Stargate was in the centre of the hangar.

"Yes, it is." The air force officer said. "It's a good thing you guys radioed to us on the way here that you were from Destiny. We would've arrested you otherwise. But we recognized several faces of the ancestors. This air force base is on alert thanks to the drone attack."

"That's all well and good." Rush said. "We're going to need to use that Stargate."

"We're going to have to run that by our superiors."

"By all means. Go ahead." Rush insisted.

"Actually, they're on their way over now." The air force officer pointed to several cars that were approaching. The people from Destiny noticed everything around them was remarkably similar to Earth, but slightly different. The cars looked similar but they're unable to recognise the brand. The planes looked similar but different. Even the buildings in the distance. Very few buildings were rectangular. Most had rounded edges. The cars stopped only a few metres away. The doors opened and several people came out. Most were in military fatigues. The Destiny crew members did a double take when they recognised a face.

"Yaozu." Matthew Scott remembered his name.

"I've got to admit, I never thought I'd see you again." Yaozu said.

"Same here." Matthew said. Yaozu was the older leader of the group on the other expedition planet which Destiny had found three years ago. The people on that planet had been stranded for thirty years. This was because the only other Stargate within range was on planet Novus. That Stargate was destroyed in the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The expedition group had been forced to fend for themselves until Destiny showed up. Destiny had then taken Yaozu and a hundred of the expedition members from the expedition planet to planet Novus. After finding Novus no longer inhabitable because of all the volcanic activity, they had then taken them to this planet.

"I'm General Stanley. I'm in charge of this base." Announced the man in military fatigues standing next to Yaozu. "We need to know everything that you know about the drones."

"Sure thing. But first what about the fight between the drones and your air force fighters?" Matthew asked. "Last we heard they were still fighting."

"We shot down the last drone about ten minutes ago." General Stanley answered. "It's a good thing you showed up when you did. You drew about half of the drones away from the fight. That enabled our jet fighters to get the upper hand."

"We need to check in with our superiors. We need to use that Stargate over there." Matthew said.

"How about you tell us about the drones, then we let you use the Stargate." General Stanley suggested.

"We don't really have the time." Matthew replied.

"We can do both at the same time." General Stanley offered.

"Deal." Rush said.

**Voyager – Shuttlebay**

The Stargate started rotating back and forth and the chevrons lit up. Joe Carey tapped his commbadge.

"Carey to Janeway. The Stargate is activating but nothing is scheduled for another two hours."

"We've got you on screen on the bridge now." Janeway replied from the bridge. Because everyone on Voyager realises how important the Stargate is, a camera has since been installed in the Shuttlebay which points directly at the Stargate. Janeway and Chakotay could see the Stargate revolving on the main viewscreen on the bridge. Then the revolving stopped and the woosh leapt out of the Stargate before settling back into the event horizon.

"Paris to Janeway." They heard Paris's voice.

"Janeway here."

"I'm calling from the shuttle. We can go to visual." Paris said. The video feed on the viewscreen was split into two showing the active Stargate on the left and Tom Paris and Harry Kim seated in the pilot seats on the right. Over their shoulders Janeway and Chakotay could see the active Stargate through the open back door. The two shuttlecraft had backed themselves close to the Stargate so it could plug its fusion reactors into it. They could also see a few Destiny crew members as well as some unfamiliar faces standing by the Stargate.

"We weren't expecting you to call us this early. Are you calling from Tareeno?" Janeway asked.

"That would be a yes." Paris replied.

"What about attracting the drones?" Janeway asked.

"The drones got here before we did so that doesn't really matter anymore." Paris filled her in. "We've been talking to the locals here. Apparently, the drones started attacking this planet several hours ago, so we know we're not responsible for bringing them here. They showed up here even before we arrived in this galaxy." Paris then explained everything that happened since they came out of warp near the planet, from engaging the drones, to losing the drones in a hailstorm, to landing at the air force base, to explaining everything to the general of the air force base and his other high-ranking military officers. "The drone mother ship is still in orbit right above us, but it's not attacking. It's just maintaining position."

"From what I've heard about these drones it's unlike them to just stand back. Any idea why it's just sitting there?" Janeway asked.

"We have a disturbing theory." Said Tuvok who had walked into the shuttle and was standing behind Paris and Kim.

"Let's hear it." Janeway said.

"They believe it is waiting for reinforcements." Tuvok said.

"That's a worrying thought." Janeway said nervously.

"Indeed. There is another matter. We have been talking to General Stanley who oversees this air force base. He has been in contact with the President here and he has been in contact with the civilian population of this planet. Although we have a Stargate here, nobody wants to evacuate this planet. They consider it home."

Janeway and Chakotay looked at each other. Janeway turned back to Tuvok and said. "From what we know about the drones, if more motherships arrive with more drones, you'll be no match for them."

"We have tried to explain that to them." Paris responded. "But they're standing firm. No-one wants to run. Also, General Stanley wants us to help lead an assault on the Mother Ship."

"What are your chances of pulling it off? Destroy the mothership, that is?" Janeway asked.

"I believe we can do it." Paris replied.

"How do you propose to do it?" Janeway asked.

"General Stanley wants to fly a couple of squadrons of their jet fighters against them. Their jet fighters are capable of flying into low earth orbit. High enough to reach the mother ship. They want both our shuttlecraft to fly with them to help them out. They also want Voyager to help out."

"Only if they want to wait 150 years for us to get there." Janeway pointed out.

"I did explain you're in another galaxy." Paris explained.

"We'll see what we can do. When are you planning to attack the mother ship?"

"Just over an hour."

"Call us again right before you attack." Janeway ordered.

"I will." Paris said. "Over and out. Seven, cut power to the fusion reactors."

Janeway and Chakotay watched the viewscreen as they saw the Stargate deactivate on the left hand side and it caused the transmission on the right hand side to cut at the same time.

"What possible help could we give them?" Janeway asked Chakotay. "We're in another galaxy."

"Actually, there is one thing we can do." Chakotay offered.

"Let's hear it."

"We recall the other two shuttlecraft and have them help out." Chakotay said.

"Good idea. That we can do. Wish we could send the Delta Flyer."

"The Delta Flyer is tough all right. It's just way too big. Let's recall the other two shuttles."

**Planet Tareeno – Brendalpine Air Force Base – Aircraft Hangar**

The Destiny crew members were watching all the hustle and bustle about them in the aircraft hangar. Most of the jet fighters were in other hangars but six of them were in this one. Air force personnel and other engineers were prepping them for launch.

"I've seen this before." Chloe said.

"What do you mean?" TJ asked.

"Seeing everyone fuelling and arming their jets, getting ready to fly off into battle." Chloe answered.

"When was that?" Lisa asked.

"About seven, I mean, ten years ago now. I was still a teenager back then. Because my Dad was a Senator, he was able to get me into top secret installations. I was in the hangar when the F-302s took off to join up with the Prometheus to fight Anubis and his Goa'uld fleet."

"Was that when they fought over Antarctica?" Lisa Park asked.

"Yes. They were both looking for the lost city of Atlantis at the time. Their search led them to an outpost not too far from where the second Stargate was. They found the gate address for Atlantis soon after." Chloe explained. "I saw all the F-302s leave, but not all of them came back."

Lisa Park and TJ looked at each other then back at Chloe, not knowing what to say.

"I think we're going to see something similar today." Chloe added.

"They know what they're doing." Lisa said unconvincingly.

"I can't go through this again." Chloe said. "I knew four of the F302 pilots who died."

Between the Stargate and the two shuttles, General Stanley was briefing Tom Paris, Harry Kim, Tuvok, Seven and about a dozen pilots. Matthew Scott and Ronald Greer were also listening in.

"We have another two squadrons getting ready to launch from another Air Force Base 400 kilometres north from here." Stanley announced. "They're taking off in a few minutes. They will rendezvous with us on the way to the drone mothership. That means 50 Hawks in those two squadrons." The Hawks are the names of the jet fighters. "We estimate to have about 36 surviving fighters from this base ready to take off in fifteen minutes. With your two shuttles helping us, we can do it."

"86 jet fighters and two shuttle craft versus one mothership and about twenty drones. We can do it." Paris said trying to sound as positive as he can.

"Now we don't need you to unnecessarily endanger yourself." General Stanley said to Paris. "We just want you to distract the drones long enough for our fighters to get past them. Then we'll simply fire a volley of missiles at them at the same time. Hopefully, enough of the missiles will get past the drones to destroy the mother ship. If the drones get too close to you, just warp away. Don't endanger…"

"General Stanley!" An Air Force aide interrupted the General.

"Don't interrupt me!" Stanley shouted.

"This is important." The aide said.

"It better be." Stanley warned.

"Our radar operators have picked up another large contact in space heading for the drone mother ship."

"Have they identified it?" Stanley asked.

"It looks like another drone mothership. The radar return of the two contacts are identical."

"Ah crap!" Exclaimed Stanley. "It looks like reinforcements have arrived. Of course, it has to be their reinforcements!"

Matthew pointed out. "I just thought I'd remind you that the second mothership would likely have about 100 drone fighters onboard."

"We'll just have to strike hard and fast!" One of the Hawk pilots exclaimed.

"Our mission is the same." General Stanley decided. "We fight."

"Our radar has picked up another contact." Said the same aide who interrupted him earlier. "It just appeared on the radar screen out of nowhere. It must have just come out of warp. It looks like another drone mothership."

"So that's three drone motherships up there now?!" Asked General Stanley.

"Confirmed." Said the aide.

"Umm." Muttered Stanley. He thought for a moment. Then he turned back to his pilots. "Mission unchanged. We fight! Get to the Hawks!" All the pilots ran to their Hawk jet fighters.

"That means us too." Tom Paris said. Tom, Harry, Tuvok and Seven walked over to the two shuttlecrafts. They had already removed the fusion reactors from the shuttles and left them attached to the Stargate.

Just then the chevrons on the Stargate lit up. Then the Stargate started rotating.

"The Stargate is activating." Matthew announced. "It has to be Voyager." The Stargate stopped rotating and the swoosh burst out of the Stargate before settling back to the event horizon.

"Janeway to Paris, Tuvok, Harry and Seven. Come in." They recognised Janeway's voice coming out of their commbadges.

"Here." All four of them tapped their commbadges simultaneously.

"You have reinforcements coming through." Janeway announced. "Clear the area in front of the Stargate."

"The area is clear." Paris informed her. "What's coming through?"

"The other two shuttlecraft." She answered.

"Send them through." Paris said happily. Several seconds later one shuttle craft came though shortly followed by the second one. They were the type 9 shuttle. They were slightly smaller than the type 6 shuttle, faster and more manoeuvrable. Chakotay was piloting one and Marla Gilmore was piloting the other one.

"It looks like you could use a little help." Chakotay said.

"Couldn't come soon enough." Paris replied.

"We're all counting on you. Call us if you need anything." They heard Janeway say through their commbadges. "Deactivate the Stargate." They saw the event horizon collapse.

"Hey, Marla. You ready to fight?" Paris asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Marla replied nervously.

"How many times have you flown a shuttlecraft into combat?" Paris asked Marla.

"Fifteen. All in the holodeck." Marla replied.

"All in the holodeck?" Chakotay asked incredulously from the first shuttle. "I didn't know. Marla, land that shuttle. Harry, you have that shuttle."

"Aye-aye, Commander." Harry said. Marla landed the shuttle. Harry replaced her in the pilot seat.

"What's the plan?" Chakotay asked.

"I'll brief you in the air." Paris replied. "We're leaving now. But first, Seven, you stay behind. There's no need for you to ride as a passenger in a mission this dangerous."

"I am perfectly capable of assisting Tuvok."

"We are vastly outnumbered." Paris replied.

"Seven, you're staying put." Chakotay ordered.

"If you insist." Seven replied flatly.

Tom Paris, Tuvok and Harry got into their shuttles. Chakotay remained in his pilot seat. They watched the Hawk fighters leave the hangar then followed them out. As the last shuttle left the hangar, the General's aide spoke again.

"We have another contact." The aide informed the General. "It's another drone mothership."

"Four drone motherships now?!" General Stanley asked in disbelief.

"Confirmed."

"Damn! Those pilots are going to their deaths!" General Stanley muttered in frustration.

"There must be something we can do!" Chloe said. Chloe and the rest of the Destiny crew members including Seven and Marla had wandered over to one end of the hangar where all the technicians, radar operators and other air force officers where seated at desks full of sensors, radar screens and other communications equipment where setup. They were able to figure out the offices were setup here so they could overlook the Stargate.

"We wish we could help but we're here and they're all up there." Greer said. "What can we possibly do?"

"What are the odds of them winning?" Chloe asked.

Seven answered matter-of-factly. "I estimate the first drone mothership we fought has about twenty surviving drones still protecting it. The other three motherships have 100 drones each. That's 320 drones and four motherships. Our side has 86 fighter jets and four shuttlecraft. The odds are not good."

"It will be a slaughter." Greer said.

"Thanks a lot Greer! I really needed to hear that!" Chloe stammered.

"Sorry." Greer said.

"There has to be something we can do." Chloe insisted.

"Chloe, aren't you still super smart?" Lisa asked. "From when the blue aliens made you a spy? Can't you think of something?"

"The blue aliens made me able to figure out really hard maths problems and some of Destiny's computer systems. But it hasn't made me anymore creative."

"I noticed that." Eli remarked.

"So have I." Rush confirmed.

"Shut up! Think of something." Chloe said. "How many times have we been surprised by what we've seen over the last five years? How many times we have pulled through? Be creative, people. Think outside the box. There must be something we can do!"

They all stood there trying to think of something, Seven included.

"Voyager can defeat them." Dale Volker said.

"Voyager is in another galaxy." Rush pointed out the obvious.

"My idea is radical, but there is a way that Voyager can help. Hear me out."

They all listened to Volker's idea.

"That idea is radical all right." Greer said.

"That could work." Seven said.

"Impressive." Eli said.

"Contact Janeway!" Chloe hurriedly said to Seven. Seven started powering up the fusion reactors connected to the Stargate.

"General Stanley!" Chloe ran over to the General. "Hold off the attack. We know how to defeat them!"

"We can't!" Stanley said. "If we don't attack them, they'll attack us. The mission has to go ahead!"

Camile joined in. "General. We can win this battle. There's no need to send so many pilots to their deaths. We just need more time."

"We don't have time! Those drones are preparing to attack us. We must strike first!"

"You only have to hold off the attack for about an hour!" Chloe insisted.

"The attack will proceed as planned." General Stanley said firmly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a battle to supervise." Stanley then turned back to the group of air force officers who were busy seated at their desks with various electronic communications equipment and radar screens.

The fusion reactors were both at 100 percent. Dale Volker used the DHD remote to dial the Stargate on Voyager. The Stargate in front of them started rotating back and forth. In less than one minute the swoosh burst out of the Stargate then settled back into the event horizon.

Seven tapped her commbadge. "Seven to Janeway."

"Janeway here. What's happening." They heard Janeway's voice coming out of the commbadge.

"The attack on the drones will begin soon. The fighter jets and four shuttlecraft are still en route. But they are now up against four drone motherships and over 300 fighter drones."

"You're kidding!" Janeway said with dread.

"We have come up with a way you can help." Seven said.

"Let's hear it." Janeway said.

Seven told her the plan.

"Crude but effective. I'm up for it. Let's do it." Janeway decided. Then because Janeway left her commbadge open they heard her give more orders. "I'll head for the shuttlebay. B'Elanna, you have the bridge. Get ready to man tactical. Janeway to Carey, remove the ramp from the active Stargate."

"I'll recall one of the shuttles to help out on our end." Seven announced. She tapped her commbadge. "Harry, return back to the hangar immediately."

"I'm kinda busy here, Seven." Harry responded.

"Your mission has changed. Return immediately." Seven repeated.

Chakotay, who was listening in, joined the conversation. "Seven, we just rendezvoused with the two squadrons from the other air force base. What's going on here?"

"There's no time to explain." Seven replied. "We need one of the shuttles to win the battle. Harry's shuttle can get back here the fastest."

"Marla, are you there?" Chakotay asked.

"I'm here." Marla answered.

"Do you concur with Seven?" Chakotay asked.

"Yes. We haven't been able to convince General Stanley to delay the mission. The quicker Harry can get back here, the quicker we can help out and save more pilots."

"Fine. Harry, get back there." Chakotay ordered.

"Turning back now." Harry confirmed.

"Now Seven. Tell us what's going on." Chakotay ordered.

Seven explained the new mission.

**Voyager – Shuttlebay**

Janeway ran into the shuttlebay and saw Lieutenant Joe Carey working on the ramp on the Stargate.

"Give me one more minute." Carey said.

"I'll be piloting the Delta Flyer." Janeway said before hurrying over to the Flyer. She made her way to the pilot's seat then commenced the startup sequence.

**Planet Tareeno – Brendalpine Air Force Base – Aircraft Hangar**

They saw Harry's shuttlecraft arrive in the hangar. Harry could see several Destiny crew members detaching the ramp from the Stargate.

General Stanley saw the shuttlecraft arrive. Because he and his aides were so engrossed in the mission, none of them noticed the ramp being detached behind them.

"What the hell is going on?!" Stanley yelled at them.

"We're going to need to borrow your Stargate." Seven said.

"We are all on the same side here." Matthew Scott said.

"Guards!" Stanley shouted. Stanley then felt a hand on his shoulder.

"I can vouch for these guys." Yaozu said. "Let them be. They know what they're doing."

"Stand down." Stanley said to the guards. He then walked back over to his military aides and continued to monitor the fighter squadron currently gaining altitude heading for the drone armada.

"The ramp is detached." Greer announced. Greer and three other guys carried the ramp away from the Stargate.

"The fusion reactors are detached." Seven stated. "I can't see you needing them for this mission. Voyager will only be dialling to this Stargate, not the other way around." What she didn't say is that if Harry's shuttle is destroyed with the two fusion reactors on board, then they will be stranded.

"Roger." Harry replied. "I'm deploying the mechanical arms."

"Stay in front of it." Seven said. "We're getting the Stargate ready." As Harry deployed the mechanical arms beneath the shuttlecraft, he watched as several Destiny crew members finished dragging sofas from a nearby lunchroom over to behind the Stargate. Then they all got in front of the Stargate and managed to push it over onto it's back. It smashed the sofas, but it did cushion the fall enough so it didn't land on the concrete floor. When Seven explained the plan to Chakotay and Harry a few minutes ago while Harry was heading back for the hangar, she explained that the mechanical arms will be holding the base of the Stargate only and not the circular ring. Harry moved forward and used the claws on the mechanical arms to grab the base of the Stargate. Harry gained several metres in altitude, as he did so the mechanical arms pivoted downward until the Stargate was held vertical but upside down. As the ring of the Stargate 1.0 model was attached to its base and also used it to rotate on, it could only be held by its base. The shuttlecraft could have still held the Stargate the same way it used to but considering that the Stargate will be purposefully activated during flight, they prefer the Stargate to be facing forward this time, instead of down.

"It looks like you're all set." Marla said.

"I'm taking off." Harry said.

"Good luck." Marla said.

Harry turned the shuttlecraft around, then took off out the open hangar doors with the Stargate to try to catch up to his comrades.

"It's all up to them now." Matthew realised.

250 kilometres above them, the large formation of 86 Hawk fighters and three shuttlecraft were approaching the first drone mothership. They could visibly see the mothership and were expecting to see about twenty drones protecting it. But they could see a lot more drones.

"It looks like the other motherships are sharing their drones. So much for an easy kill." Reported Major Alan, the pilot in charge. "We proceed with the mission. You ready Chakotay?"

"Sure am. Paris, Tuvok, ready for our decoy flypast?"

"I'm ready." Paris replied.

"Affirmative." Tuvok confirmed.

"Let's do it. Accelerate!" Chakotay announced. Chakotay, Paris and Tuvok accelerated and sped ahead of the fighter jets. "Ready phasers." They could see some of the drones head for them. "Fire!" All three shuttlecraft opened fire with their phasers, scoring several hits on the mothership. Just as before, they watched some of the drones intercept some of the phasers, destroying themselves. The other drones fired back at the shuttlecraft.

"Veer right!" Chakotay shouted. All three shuttlecraft veered right away from the mothership.

"Several dozen drones are pursuing us." Tuvok announced.

"Good! The more that are following us, the less that are fighting the Hawks." Chakotay responded.

"Alpha squadron. Arm missiles. Target the lead mothership." Major Alan ordered. "Fire!" The Hawk fighters from Alpha squadron fired one missile each at the drone mothership. The drones targeted them with lasers and managed to shoot a few of the missiles. Some of the drones kamikazed with a few missiles. But most of the missiles hit the drone mothership. Combined with the damage of the phasers earlier, the drone mothership went up in a huge explosion.

"Yes!" Major Alan shouted in triumph. "Target those drones heading for us. Open fire." As the Hawk fighters engaged the drones, other drones were pursuing the three shuttlecraft.

"The Hawks just destroyed one of the motherships." Paris announced.

"One down. Three two go. Those drones are gaining on us." Chakotay pointed out.

"Our most logical course of action would be to warp out of here." Tuvok said.

"Warp out of here, you two." Chakotay ordered them. The two shuttlecraft had been repaired while it was in the hangar so they both had shields and could warp again."

"What about you Chakotay?" Paris asked him.

"I'll be right behind you." Chakotay responded.

"No you won't. You want to help the Hawk fighters." Paris said.

"Warp out of here, that's an order!" Chakotay commanded.

"If we warp out of here, it will take too long to come back to help the Hawks." Tuvok pointed out.

"Three shuttlecraft are a lot more effective than one. The hawks need our help." Paris said.

"So be it. So, what do we do about the drones shooting at us?" Chakotay asked.

"Let's try the split up and criss-cross method." Paris suggested.

"Let's do it." Chakotay agreed. "You two go right. I'll go left. Now!" Paris and Tuvok pulled a hard right while Chakotay pulled a hard left. The two dozen drones split up to follow them. After about fifteen seconds the shuttles pulled some hard turns again until all three were flying at each other.

"Chakotay, here we come." Paris said. "Get ready to do some dodging."

"Intercept in five seconds." Chakotay warned them. Then the three shuttlecraft passed each other at high speed. They then immediately started firing phasers, managing to shoot some of the drones that were chasing them. They were careful to dodge any drones that tried to crash into them. Afterwards the three shuttles headed back for the remaining three motherships, with the surviving drones still in pursuit but not as closely as before.

"I shot three drones!" Paris shouted.

"I got two of them." Tuvok announced.

"So did I." Chakotay said. "Let's help our Hawk friends."

**Voyager – Shuttlebay – Delta Flyer**

"The fusion reactors are secure and still attached by cable to the Stargate." Joe Carey announced in the back of the Delta Flyer. Joe Carey had put the fusion reactors in the Delta Flyer. The cables led from the reactors out through the open door to the Stargate about ten metres away. Luckily Seven had made the cables long. There was a force field on the door which only held in the atmosphere so it will allow the cables through.

"I'm activating the tractor beam." Janeway announced. A yellow-orange beam emitted out the front of the Delta Flyer and stretched out to the Stargate. "Let's take off." The Delta Flyer gained two metres in altitude. The Stargate also floated up two metres. Janeway turned the Delta Flyer around with the Stargate and headed for the large open door at the back of the shuttlebay. The Delta Flyer left the shuttlebay taking the Stargate with it by tractor beam. Janeway then turned the Flyer around and flew beside Voyager. When she got in front of Voyager, Janeway turned around again and held position facing Voyager. She operated the controls of the tractor beam to turn the Stargate around, so it was facing Voyager.

"Okay B'Elanna. This is either the smartest or dumbest thing I have ever done. I don't know which." Janeway said. "Carey, turn on the fusion reactors then dial our friends in the other galaxy."

"Right away." Joe Carey replied from the back of the Delta Flyer.

"Janeway to B'Elanna, get ready to target photon torpedoes on my position." Janeway ordered.

"Umm, yeah." B'Elanna replied, now getting very nervous seeing that she was now targeting her captain.

**Refugee planet – Just above the atmosphere**

Harry Kim was flying the shuttlecraft as fast as he safely could considering that he was carrying the Stargate below the shuttle. Harry saw on one of the camera feeds which looked below the shuttle that the Stargate had started rotating. Then it activated.

"Janeway to Harry. Come in." Harry heard Janeway's voice.

"This is Harry."

"Give me an update."

"The battle has already commenced. The humans here have managed to destroy one mothership, but they've started taking losses. They don't have enough firepower to destroy the other three. There are too many drones fighting them."

"Where are you?" Janeway asked.

"I'm flying there as fast as I can, but I won't be within firing range for another two minutes."

"What about Chakotay, Paris and Tuvok?"

"We're here." Chakotay joined the audio conference. "We're using ourselves as decoys to divert some of the drones away from the Hawk fighters. The Hawks just fired a salvo of missiles at the second mothership, but they failed to destroy it. There's now a huge fight between the drones and the Hawks. We're losing Hawks."

"Harry will be within range in two minutes. Get ready to distract the drones when he gets close." Janeway said.

"We will." Chakotay responded. "Paris, Tuvok, let's do another hit and run on the mothership and draw more drones away from the Hawks."

"Let's go for it!" Paris said. The three shuttlecraft streaked toward the second mothership.

**Voyager - Bridge**

"Harry is almost in firing position." Janeway's voice came out of the speakers.

"I'm arming photon torpedoes." B'Elanna said from tactical. She was on the bridge because most of the senior crew which normally serve on the bridge were on planet Tareeno.

"Be careful with the aiming." Janeway warned B'Elanna. "I don't want to be blown away."

"I couldn't be more careful, Captain." B'Elanna said. She had the Delta Flyer and the Stargate on the viewscreen. The crosshairs were on the centre of the stargate. She kept having to make minute adjustments as the Delta Flyer was drifting in space.

"B'Elanna to Harry." B'Elanna tapped her commbadge.

"I'm here, B'Elanna."

"My targeting scanners are unable to detect any targets on the other side of the Stargate. All I can do is fire photon torpedoes directly at the Stargate itself. I'll put in a time delay, so the warhead won't arm itself until after it's through the Stargate. Make sure you're directly facing the motherships when I fire."

"Will do."

**Planet Tareeno – Just above the atmosphere**

The Hawk fighters were in a massive aerial dogfight with the drones. The drones were shooting lasers and sometimes deliberately colliding with a Hawk fighter. The Hawk jet fighters were firing machine cannons and missiles at them. The pilots had originally intended to save the missiles for the motherships, but there were too many drones, and the missiles gave the pilots the ability to fire at the drones without having to point their jet fighters at them. It was the only advantage the Hawk pilots had. Consequently, they no longer had enough missiles to destroy any more motherships.

"Harry to Chakotay, I'm almost within firing range. But I need to keep pointing the Stargate at the motherships. That makes me a sitting duck. I need someone to draw the drones away."

"It's taking everything I've got not to get shot right now." Chakotay replied while taking out a drone with phasers. "I'm right in the middle of the battle."

"Same here." Paris said. Their latest attempt to do a hit and run didn't work as well as expected. Instead they found themselves surrounded by drones alongside the Hawk fighters.

"Ask the Hawk pilots." Suggested Chakotay.

"Major Alan. This is Harry Kim. Come in."

"This is Major Alan. Go ahead."

"I'm approaching your position. I'm carrying the Stargate. Voyager is about to fire photon torpedoes through the Stargate at the motherships. But I need an escort to draw the drones away while I do it."

"Hang on! You're drawing the drones away now!" Major Alan replied. "They're all heading for you. It looks like they know what you're planning. All pilots! Break off and pursue the drones. Give the shuttle carrying the Stargate a clear run to the motherships." All the Hawk fighters altered course and chased the drones which were all headed for Harry's shuttle.

"Should we help them out?" Paris asked Chakotay.

"No. Let them go after those drones. There are more drones protecting the motherships. We'll take on those drones instead and help clear a path for Harry that way."

"Heading for the motherships now." Paris announced.

"Likewise." Tuvok agreed. All three shuttlecraft headed for the motherships.

"Holy crap!" Harry exclaimed when he saw the massive number of drones and Hawk fighters heading straight for him.

"We've got you covered, Harry." Major Alan assured him. "Keep flying straight."

"Okay, then." Harry said nervously. "I'm staying on course." Harry kept flying straight. Every time he saw a drone head toward him, he saw it get blown up by either a missile or machine cannon fire from a Hawk fighter. "Wow!" Except for dodging a drone twice, Harry stayed on course and watched all the action and explosions happening all around him. He realised he was now in firing range. "Harry to B'Elanna, the drone mothership is right in front of me. Open fire."

**Voyager - Bridge**

"Firing photon torpedoes." B'Elanna announced. She very nervously fired four photon torpedoes out of the one torpedo tube which has a clear line of sight to the Stargate.

Captain Janeway silently screamed as she saw the photon torpedoes head right towards her, and then go straight into the Stargate.

**Planet Tareeno – Just above the atmosphere**

Harry Kim saw four photon torpedoes speed away in front of him and directly hit the drone mothership.

KABOOM!

Harry, Chakotay, Paris, Tuvok and a lot of Hawk pilots saw the second drone mothership blow up in a massive fireball.

"YEAH!" They all heard the Hawk pilots shout into the microphones in their helmets.

"No time to waste!" Chakotay said to Harry. "Head for the next mothership."

"Right on it!" Harry altered course and lined up with the third mothership. "Get ready B'Elanna. I'll be in firing range in less than a minute!"

"I'm arming the next four torpedoes." B'Elanna informed him.

"Paris, Tuvok, there are more drones protecting that mother ship. Clear a path." Chakotay ordered. Again, the three shuttlecraft sped ahead and started firing at the drones protecting the mothership.

"B'Elanna, open fire!" Harry announced. Again, Harry saw four photon torpedoes leap out of the Stargate. Drones managed to destroy two of the torpedoes but the other two hit the drone mothership dead centre.

KABOOM!

"YEAH!" The Hawk pilots all cheered.

"One more mothership. You can do it Harry!" Chakotay called out.

"Lining up now." Harry said.

"Look out!" Paris shouted. Harry spotted something speeding at him out of the corner of his eye but before he could react…

BANG!

Harry saw the stars spinning. He thought he saw the Stargate spinning away at one point.

Chakotay, Paris and Tuvok looked on in horror as they saw a drone kamikaze right into the mechanical arms between the Stargate and the shuttle. The drone sheered right through two of the mechanical arms. The shuttlecraft was sent spinning end over end. The Stargate was spinning away in another direction, one of the claws still attached to the base of the Stargate. The Stargate was still active.

"Harry! Are you okay?" Paris said frantically.

"Hold your fire B'Elanna. Harry has been hit." Chakotay said.

"Oh, no." They heard B'Elanna respond.

"I'll retrieve the Stargate." Tuvok informed them.

"Cover them!" Major Alan ordered the Hawk fighters.

Harry was dazed. He realized he'd been hit. The console was beeping all sorts of damage reports at him. The stars were still spinning. Stop the spinning, he realized. He had to stop the spinning. He reached for the front console. Wait, wasn't there a button for that? Yes, the stabilisation button. Where is that? It took him several seconds to remember where it was. He groped around for it. There it is. He pressed the button. Then he noticed the spinning stars slow down then eventually stop.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"A drone hit you." Paris answered.

"I thought I was a goner." Harry said.

"So did we." Chakotay agreed.

"What about the Stargate?" Harry asked.

"Tuvok went after it." Chakotay answered. "The Stargate was flung away at great speed, but it appears to be still active."

"The people from Destiny said the Stargates are built really tough." Paris said.

"I am still pursuing the Stargate." Tuvok reported. "It has entered the planet's atmosphere. It will take me several minutes to catch it."

"There's still a few dozen drones here." Major Alan announced. "We no longer have enough missiles to destroy the fourth mothership."

"We'll have to make do with our phasers and whatever missiles you have left." Chakotay responded.

"So be it." Major Alan responded. All the shuttlecraft pilots and Hawk pilots were getting nervous again. Without Voyager backing them up with photon torpedoes, the remaining mothership and drones now have the upper hand. "All Hawk fighters, prepare to attack the mothership." The Hawk fighters all altered course for the last mothership when they saw…

KABOOM!

The last drone mothership blew up in a humungous fireball.

"Wow!" Major Alan shouted in wonder. "Who blew it up?"

"Good guess." Chakotay said. "What about the drones?"

"The drones appear to be going dormant." Paris replied. "Wait! Not all of them! About a dozen drones are still active."

"I see them." General Stanley said. "All Hawk pilots. Take them out now!"

"Let's help them." Chakotay ordered. The next three minutes had the Hawk pilots team up with the shuttlecraft in shooting the drones. They were all on a rush with all four motherships destroyed. The last drone was destroyed by Harry Kim who had regained his senses enough to rejoin the fight.

"Good going, Harry!" Chakotay rejoiced. "Now back to that last mothership. Who blew it up?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Paris answered.

"Major Alan, did one of your pilots destroy it?" Chakotay asked.

"Negative. We were still lining up to attack it. It wasn't us."

"Hang on. I think I've got something." Paris said. "Expand your sensors, there's another ship out there. Something big. It's near their second moon."

"I have it. It's big all right." Chakotay noticed. "It's about three times the size of a Galaxy class."

"Chakotay, this is General Stanley." Chakotay heard Stanley's voice on the speakers. "Hold your fire. It's one of ours."

"Really?" Paris replied. "You have something that big?"

"It's from planet Novus." General Stanley. "It's a settler ship. They're saying that they blew up the drone mothership."

"Now that's a hell of a way to make an entrance." Paris said.

**Planet Tareeno – Brendalpine Air Force Base – Aircraft Hangar**

The four shuttlecraft had landed back inside the aircraft hangar. Tuvok had managed to grab the Stargate and had returned it back to where it originally stood in the centre of the hangar. The surviving Hawk aircraft had also landed back at the two air force bases. Harry Kim was being checked over by a nurse. He was still a bit woozy from the impact with the drone.

Chloe wasn't very happy to learn that although 86 Hawk jet fighters had taken off, only 61 had returned. Chloe didn't know any of the Hawk pilots, but after looking around at the reactions of the personnel in the hangar, she could tell that some of them did. Just as before, she couldn't do anything about it.

There were mixed reactions from everybody in the hangar. Despite the Hawk losses, everyone was happy at winning the battle and saving the planet. They were also surprised at the sudden appearance of a settler ship, which had somehow arrived 170 years ahead of schedule. General Stanley was in radio contact with the captain of the settler ship. A lot of people were overhearing the conversation.

"The people from Voyager said that they could scan your ship with their sensors and could tell that it had come out of warp." Stanley said to the captain.

"That would be correct." The captain replied.

"Planet Novus hasn't invented warp or FTL yet." Stanley said.

"Actually, the project to invent warp drive was classified." The captain revealed. "We finally managed to pull it off after most of the settler ships had left Novus. It's nothing compared to what the galaxy hopping Destiny could do, but it did reduce the voyage from 200 down to 30 years. Are you telling me that the Destiny is there now?"

"No, but twelve of their crewmembers are. Apparently, the theory by Eli Wallace that the original settlers were sent back in time was correct." Stanley revealed. "Eli Wallace is actually here now."

Eli Wallace didn't know how to respond to that. He looked over and saw Nicholas Rush talking to air force personnel who were inspecting some wreckage in another part of the hangar. Eli did a double take at the wreckage. That looks like a drone. He watched Rush walk back over to the main group that were overhearing the General's radio conversation with the captain of the settler spaceship.

"You couldn't possibly have come at a better time. It one point it looked like the drones were going to win." Stanley said.

"The only advantage we had was that the Hawk pilots and shuttles were distracting the drones long enough for us to shoot it in the back." The captain said.

Nicholas Rush walked back to the main group of Destiny and Voyager crew members. "We have to talk."

"So talk." Greer said.

"There were three things that happened during that battle that should concern us." Rush said.

"We're listening." Matthew said.

"One: When Harry Kim was using a Stargate to fire photon torpedoes at the motherships, the drones changed tactics too quickly and they all went after Harry's shuttlecraft."

"We noticed." Chakotay stated.

"Two: After all the drone motherships were destroyed, all of the drones should have deactivated. But some of them were still fighting."

"We definitely noticed that one." Paris confirmed.

"Three: There is a destroyed drone over there. It flew into this hangar shortly before we got here and was hovering in front of the Stargate. It did not fire on the Stargate. It was just looking at it, as if scanning it. That is what those personnel over there were telling me. Luckily, a soldier took it out with a grenade."

"The drones are learning." Adam Brody said.

"They did figure out how Destiny recharged." Dale Volker pointed out.

"And changed tactics accordingly." Rush added.

"They're upgrading their drones." Varro said. "Becoming more independent.

"What does this mean?" Chloe asked.

"The drones usually destroy any technology not their own." Eli answered.

"But now they're getting selective about what technology they destroy." Lisa Park surmised.

"They know what the Stargate can do." Camile figured.

"Why won't they destroy it?" TJ asked.

"Because they're trying to figure out how it works." Rush answered.

"And once they do…" Eli started.

"They're going to be popping in and saying hi." Greer finished.

"Do you have any idea what caused them to make such a drastic change?" Camile asked.

"I've got a hunch that it may have been us." Rush assumed.

"We were the ones that managed to give them the slip." Eli added.

"They're not used to being beaten." Greer pointed out.

"So, they got creative." Camile said.

"Bingo." Eli confirmed.

"So, we're going to be seeing the drones again, even after we leave this planet?" Chloe asked.

"That is a distinct possibility." Rush answered. Chloe just looked at Rush wide-eyed. "Just one more thing." He walked over to General Stanley. "General, when we dropped off the expedition members here three years ago, we did warn you guys not to use the Stargate as the drones could detect and track any active wormholes. If the drones came here, then it would mean…"

"That we used the Stargate." General Stanley answered. "You're right. After you guys left three years ago, we did stop using the Stargate. But unfortunately, people from other planets kept gating in. That was two and a half years ago. But no drone motherships appeared back then. Don't know why. The only thing we could think of is that they were fighting another alien race elsewhere. So, we started using the Stargate again. The drones only showed up today."

"You guys just carried on as usual using the Stargate?" Rush asked.

"We did take some measures to prepare for a drone invasion." Stanley said. "All those hawk fighters. Most of them are less than one year old. We thought they would have been enough. If there was just one mothership, that would have been enough."

"Considering the number of motherships we encountered three years ago, It's a sure bet there are a lot more of them out there." Rush warned.

"Yeah, I've got a hunch you're right." Stanley confirmed. "We're still building more Hawks, and the nukes are still under construction."

"Nukes?" Rush asked.

"Both the Hawks and the satellites will be carrying them. We can defend ourselves. The longer it takes for more drone motherships to show up, the more capable our own forces will be."

"You better hope so." Rush said.

The Voyager and Destiny crew members were debriefing each other over the mission.

"Judging by the distance it had to cover," Tom began "we calculate that the settler ship managed to do warp 1.8 for most of the journey."

"Not bad considering they just invented warp travel." Harry added.

"They said there are 20,000 people asleep on the settler ship." Marla revealed.

"And that there are over a dozen settler ships still on their way here." Chakotay said. "They'll be waiting a long time for the others, though. Only one settler ship could actually warp."

Major Alan came over to the main group of Destiny and Voyager crew members. "Boy, did you lot pick a hell of a day to visit us. Man! I never thought I'd get to see the original crew of Destiny. You made the news three years ago when you dropped off Yaozu and the expedition members on this planet, but I was in another country at the time. We're sure lucky you came back. Anyway, all the Hawk pilots are having a party to celebrate the victory. We're inviting you lot to join us."

"We'd better check in with Voyager first before…" Matthew Scott began.

"Too late, you're invited." Major Alan said. He then turned to the other Hawk pilots who had approached them. "The pilots are here. That's Tom Paris, Chakotay, Harry Kim and Tuvok. Get them!" Suddenly a dozen pilots grabbed the four shuttlecraft pilots. The Destiny crew members were startled and wondered how to respond. But then the pilots hoisted Tom, Chakotay, Harry and Tuvok onto their shoulders and started making their way to where food and beverages were being setup in a corner of the large hangar. Somebody had also switched on a music player from that same corner which was now blasting music.

"The heroes of Voyager!" Major Alan shouted. The Hawk pilots cheered. Tuvok seemed the most out of place, wondering what was going on being hoisted on shoulders. The Destiny crew members decided to follow them to where a party was about to begin.

"There's going to be a lot of beer involved, isn't there?" Chloe asked.

"Oh yeah." Eli confirmed.

"Yep, we're about to get drunk." Greer realised.

"We'll leave for Voyager first thing in the morning." Matthew Scott announced.

Chloe made sure to stay sober that night and kept an eye not on the partying pilots, but the other pilots who kept to themselves, sat down and didn't say anything. She could tell those were the ones who lost friends in the battle. She would talk to those pilots. At least she could be there for them.

**Voyager – Shuttlebay – 4pm the next day**

"Incoming wormhole." Joe Carey announced. After the wormhole stabilised a transmission came through. "It's Chakotay and the others from Tareeno. They're ready to come back with the four shuttlecraft."

"Let them through. I'm on my way." Joe heard Janeway's voice on his commbadge. By the time Janeway got to the shuttlebay closely followed by B'Elanna, all four shuttlecraft had come through the Stargate. Then Janeway noticed the Destiny crew appearing as they walked through the Stargate. Joe Carey had powered up the two fusion reactors to 100% to allow their crewmembers on Tareeno to pack up their fusion reactors and bring them back with them. The four shuttlecraft landed in their assigned bays. Janeway and B'Elanna watched the Voyager crew members exit the shuttles. They all looked unsteady. As they got closer, Janeway, B'Elanna and Joe could see that all their eyes were bloodshot, their hair were messy and their clothes unkempt. They looked at the Destiny crewmembers and realised their appearance was just as bad.

"Are you lot okay? What happened?" Janeway asked.

"We're fine." Paris answered. B'Elanna hurried over to hug Paris.

"In a manner of speaking." Tuvok added. "The Hawk pilots invited us to a party."

"Did this party get out of hand, by any chance?" Janeway asked.

"Well, put it this way." Greer clarified. "No one remembers the party ending."

"The Hawk pilots even managed to get beer into Eli." Paris added.

"Eli chundered." Greer said.

"Gee, thanks." Eli groaned.

"Most of them woke up in sick bay." Tuvok revealed. "At around lunchtime."

"Actually, Tuvok and Chloe were the only two who managed to stay sober." TJ revealed.

"Since when are you the one that stays sober at a party?" Eli asked Chloe.

"Umm, you know, just trying to kick the habit." Chloe answered.

"The battle with the drones is over?" B'Elanna asked.

"Affirmative." Tuvok answered. "No more drones or motherships appeared after the battle last night."

"The only battle we're fighting right now are with our hangovers." Paris said.

"We can tell." B'Elanna said.

"We do have better news." Chakotay said. "Planet Tareeno thanked us for helping them fight the drones by providing us with supplies. All four shuttles are full of food and resources." The doors to the shuttles had been left open and Janeway could see that they were all packed to the brim with an assortment of boxes.

"That's why we all walked through the Stargate behind the shuttles. There was no room for us." Matthew revealed.

Tom looked at the Delta Flyer and realised it had been modified. It looked like the bottom has been fitted with what looks like an outer step stretching along the sides. Also there appears to be an addition to the back of the Delta Flyer. It looks like an extra airlock has been added to the back.

"Hey, who's been messing with my Delta Flyer?" Tom asked.

"I'll let B'Elanna explain that to you later." Janeway responded. She turned back to the main group. "But first. You lot just accomplished one hell of a mission." Janeway said, relieved that nobody from Voyager or Destiny were killed in the mission. "I do have some good news for you. Voyager will be catching up with Destiny tomorrow morning. So, make sure you have a good night's sleep, because as soon as we've shipped all these Stargates across to Destiny, Destiny will be leaving for our Earth tomorrow afternoon."

* * *

I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is I lost my job at the same time as a heckuva' lot of other people thanks to the global lockdown caused by a certain virus. The good news is I plan on spending all my available time writing this story. I want to finish this as fast as I can. So expect at least a chapter a week from this point on.


	15. The Journey Begins

**Chapter 15 – The Journey Begins**

**Destiny – Observation Deck**

"So when will Voyager be here?" Corporal Barnes asked.

"Anytime now." Adam Brody answered. There were about fifteen people on the Observation Deck all looking out the large forward window.

"I want to be looking when it comes out of warp." Dale Volker said. "It should be something."

"That's why we're all here." Barnes said.

"It's hard to believe today Destiny will begin its journey to go to their Earth." Lisa Park pointed out.

"That's quite a course change." Camile stated.

"At least we will be going to 'A earth' even if it's not 'THE earth'". Dale clarified.

"True. But it's an Earth in the 24th century." Adam pointed out.

"Now that will be something." Lisa said.

"Sure will." Adam agreed.

"The technology and way of life must be so radical." Dale wondered.

"You just want to check out the women in the holodeck." Lisa accused.

Dale, who was standing in front of Lisa, turned around to face her. "I just like the food replicators." While Adam was facing her, there was a streak of blue light, which was then replaced by Voyager floating two kilometres in front of them.

"Yeah!" Everybody shouted and applauded. Dale turned around again and saw Voyager.

"I missed it!" Dale complained. Everybody laughed at him. "Come on! I missed it coming out of warp!"

"I'm sure you'll catch it next time." Lisa suggested.

"Oh, yeah? When will that be?" Dale asked.

"Never." Camile answered. Everybody laughed.

**Destiny - Elevator**

Colonel Everett Young, Lieutenant Matthew Scott, Master Sargent Ronald Greer, Airman Darren Becker and Eli Wallace were all wearing spacesuits in the elevator. The soldiers each had a machine gun.

"Vanessa to Colonel Young." They heard Vanessa's voice on the intercom in their spacesuits.

"Young here." Everett replied.

"Voyager just came out of warp. It's here now." Vanessa informed him.

"Great. Let them come aboard." Young stated.

"Will do. Vanessa out." Vanessa ended the radio transmission.

"Oh, man! I wanted to see Voyager come out of warp." Eli complained.

"Just work on the controls." Young said.

At dinner last night on Voyager, they had talked about the war with the drones on planet Tareeno. Afterwards, the subject of conversation had changed to preparing for the trip to Star Trek Earth. One item of discussion was: Where are they going to store the dozen Stargates on Destiny? All the large rooms on Destiny already had a lot of equipment in it. There were other large rooms, but they don't have a high enough ceiling. They had decided to discount the dome room. Although the room is big enough and they could move the stargates in through the breach, the breach in the dome is too large. They don't want the Stargates exposed to outer space for a significant portion of the trip. They are planning on getting the two repair bots to repair the dome, but then how will they get the Stargates out of Destiny when they reach Earth? Although they could be beamed out of there, their time on Destiny had taught them to have multiple ways of getting the job done. They need to find a room with a door large enough to transport the stargates through. They had found a rather large room in Destiny's schematics. It was a room they hadn't yet been to. It has a large door which opens to outer space. They were also sure the room was not pressurised. That was why everyone was wearing spacesuits. Schematics also revealed that the elevator can get to it.

"That should do it." Eli announced. They heard and felt the elevator start moving. The elevator can move both vertically and horizontally. In this case, it was mostly going down. They heard the elevator come to a stop. Then they heard beeping. "I'm pretty sure that's the warning signal warning us that the other side of this door is unpressurized. The safety system has locked the door."

"Can you get around it?" Young asked.

"Yes I can." Eli answered. Eli kept pressing buttons on the console. "Get ready. This could be rough." Eli pressed a few more buttons then suddenly the door opened. WHOOSH! Everybody found themselves thrown out by turbulent air into a large, dark room. They all found themselves sliding several metres across a smooth metal floor. The spacesuits they all wore provided cushioning which prevented anyone from getting hurt. The roar of air subsided as the air pressure in the elevator and the large room equalised.

Greer was laughing. "That was fun! The spacesuits are definitely a good idea."

"Gee, ya' think?" Eli answered, with a smile on his face. They were all warned beforehand that that was going to happen. They all struggled to get up in the bulky spacesuits.

"Someone find the light switch." Young ordered.

"It should be here somewhere." Darren Becker said. The light on his spacesuit illuminated the area in front of him just enough that he could see several switches in front of him on the panel besides the open elevator door. Because he'd already spent five years on Destiny, he recognised the light switch. "Here it is." He turned the lights on.

"Wow!" Darren heard Eli exclaim.

"Holy crap!" Matthew said in awe.

Darren turned around. "Whoah!"

"No way!" Greer said in amazement. They all realised that they were in a shuttlebay. The main reason for this was not the massive door on the other side of the room which most likely opens to outer space. It was the fact that sitting in the corner, where it had obviously been stored for a very long time, was a shuttle. The shuttle looked identical to the two other shuttles that Destiny has had in the past.

"This shuttle was here the whole time?" Eli asked in disbelief.

"So, we always had an extra shuttle hidden away in the basement." Greer realized.

"It looks brand new." Eli noticed. They all saw that it looked like it was just built. It looked identical to the other shuttle which had suddenly reappeared alongside Destiny three years ago. That was the shuttle which was in sorry shape when it was left with over a dozen crewmembers on a planet in another galaxy. But when the shuttle reappeared a year later alongside Destiny, it was miraculously restored. The shuttle sitting in front of them was not really brand new, of course. It was about a million years old. This room had just done an excellent job of preserving it.

Everett turned away from the shuttle to the large door protecting them from outer space. "See if you can figure out how to get that large door open." He ordered.

"On it." Eli responded. Eli had found a computer interface console. It looked just like the one in the Stargate room which controls the Stargate. The menu screens that it accessed differed somewhat. "I believe this can activate a forcefield over that large door which will just hold the atmosphere in, just like the ones on Voyager. Can I try it?" Eli asked.

"Give it a go." Everett answered.

"Force field activated. Opening the door…now." Eli announced. The massive door slowly opened revealing the blackness of space filled with stars.

Greer walked right up to the edge. "Nice view. I have to keep reminding myself it's outer space and not just night time." Greer held out his machine gun and slowly extended it. The barrel touched energy and it revealed the force field which was no longer invisible. The barrel extended past the force field. "You're right. It looks like this force field is only holding the air in. Eli, see if you can turn the force field off."

"I can do that, but you don't want to be standing there. The atmosphere might blow you out." Eli responded.

"What atmosphere. This room is unpressurised, remember?" Greer remarked.

"It was unpressurised. But when the elevator opened, the air spread out into this room. The air here is really thin in this large room, but it might just be enough to blow you out. Hold onto something first." Eli pointed out.

"If you say so." Greer relented. He saw a handle on a nearby wall and walked over to hold it.

"Switching off the force field in three, two, one." Eli switched off the force field. There was a rush of air, but it was far less than the rush that blew them out of the elevator. The rush subsided after two seconds, but Greer felt the air push him slightly. Greer realised if he was still standing in front of the open door without holding onto something, he would have been blown out the door.

"Whoah." Greer said with a sigh of relief. The others laughed.

"It looks like we have a room for holding the Stargates." Everett announced.

"What about the lack of air?" Matthew asked.

"We can worry about that later." Everett replied. "The Stargates don't need air to function. And we're just storing them anyway. The Stargate in the gate room will remain our priority Stargate. This will, however, be the next section we'll have the repair bots repair so we can repressurise it."

Darren looked around the shuttlebay. He saw a few closed doors. "It looks like there are other rooms down here."

"Let's check them out. Eli, close that large door." Everett ordered.

**Voyager – Shuttlebay – Delta Flyer**

"Well, this is it. We're moving to Destiny." Tom Paris announced.

"At least we convinced Janeway to let me come with you." B'Elanna Torres added.

"Are you sure engineering will survive without you?"

"I'm sure Vorik can handle it."

"Especially since Voyager will just be hanging out by the intergalactic wormhole most of the time." Tom said.

"Exactly. We've got our bags. Let's go." B'Elanna said eagerly. "I could do with the change of scenery. I've been on Voyager too long."

"We're outta' here!" Tom cheered. He operated the controls and the Delta Flyer rose off the deck and flew out of the shuttlebay into outer space.

**Destiny – Bridge**

"Incoming transmission." Vanessa James called out. "It's Tom Paris in the Delta Flyer."

"Let's hear it." Nicholas Rush said from the Captain's chair. Vanessa pressed a button.

"We're requesting permission to dock with Destiny." They heard Tom's voice on the speaker.

"Grant him permission." Rush declared.

"You have permission to land." Vanessa responded.

"Guide him in." Rush said.

"Will do." Vanessa confirmed. They could see the Delta Flyer approaching Destiny.

**Destiny – Observation Deck**

"Is that the Delta Flyer?" Lisa asked.

"Sure is." Dale answered. "Destiny is about to have an addition." They watched the Delta Flyer approach. It came up close, hovering not too far from the shuttle already docked on Destiny before the Delta Flyer moved over to the other landing pad on the port side of Destiny. They watched the Delta Flyer turn around, so it was facing forward, then they saw the Delta Flyer slowly lower itself.

"The Delta Flyer will be coming with us on Destiny?" Lisa asked.

"Sure will. Apparently, Colonel Young made the deal with Janeway while we were on Tareeno." Dale filled her in.

"The Delta Flyer doesn't fit through the Stargate, so at the moment it doesn't have much use on Voyager." Adam added. "But on Destiny…"

"…We'll have a shuttle which can warp." Lisa finished.

"Not only that." Dale said. "It has transporters onboard. Destiny will have transporter capability."

"So, we'll be able to beam to planets." Lisa realised. They watched the Delta Flyer land on the same landing pad the second shuttle used and back itself into the airlock. They could see the clamps on the landing pad latch onto the bottom ridges running alongside the bottom of the Delta Flyer. The ridges were a new addition to the Flyer and now they realised what it was for.

"As long as they don't beam me into any walls." Adam remarked.

**Destiny – Corridor**

"It looks like it's just as unpressurised on the other side of this door." Eli revealed. He was looking at the console on the door. "Keep your suits on." They had left the shuttlebay and wandered down a corridor. They found a locked door and were in the process of opening it. "I'm overriding the lock now." The door opened to a room which was just as dark as the shuttlebay was when they first found it. Eli found the light switch and turned it on.

"This is some kind of lab." Matthew figured. The room contained several benches, many control panels, lots of tools were on shelves and hanging off hooks on walls.

"Heap of junk in here." Greer remarked.

"I think this might be the mechanical workshop that the repair bot used to repair the circuit panel of the stasis pod." Eli theorised.

"There could be more than one workshop on Destiny." Matthew pointed out.

"True. The only thing I have to go on is I know the repair bot went to an unpressurised section of the ship." Eli concluded.

"I can see this room becoming very useful." Everett surmised.

"Oh yeah. If we can figure out how these tools work, we've hit the jackpot." Eli confirmed.

"We have got to repair and re-pressurise this section first." Matthew blurted out.

"That will be our first job is as soon as we commence our journey for Earth." Everett announced.

**Destiny – Corridor**

Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres exited the Delta Flyer into the corridor with their suitcases.

"If I remember from the tour they gave us a few days ago, I think we need to go this way." Tom said. He turned a corner and found himself at a dead end.

"You were saying?" B'Elanna mocked.

"You did the tour as well." Tom counter-mocked.

"Hi there. Tom and B'Elanna, if I remember?" Corporal Barnes appeared around a corner.

"That's us." Tom answered.

"I'm here to lead you to your crew quarters." Barnes announced.

"Lead the way." Tom said. A few minutes later, Barnes had led them to their crew quarters. Barnes opened the door. "Almost all quarters are the same size. No special treatment for anyone."

"Good enough for us." Tom said. Barnes instructed them about a few things about the quarters, then led them to the nearest set of sonic showers to show how they worked, pointed out where the amenities were, then led them back to their quarters.

"What do you think?" Tom asked B'Elanna after Barnes had left. "Does it look dark and dreary?"

"Actually, it reminds me a bit of a Klingon Bird-Of-Prey." B'Elanna answered. "If Klingons can handle that, then I can handle this."

"You got to admit, this ship does have character." Tom realised.

"I did notice that. But most of all, after six and a half years on Voyager, I really need a change of scenery."

"Same here. It's the main reason I agreed so easily to this transfer. Besides, Voyager will be just one Stargate jump away. Now, what can we get up to while we have these quarters to ourselves?" Tom asked.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll think of something." B'Elanna replied.

**Destiny – Shuttlecraft**

"Knock knock Eli." Joe Carey said on the communicator. "I have a couple of Stargates for you."

"Just a minute. The shuttlebay door appears to have locked itself." Eli responded. Joe Carey was in a shuttlecraft which was floating right outside Destiny's large shuttlebay door. The mechanical arms were extended. Two arms held a Stargate each. The other two arms held a ramp each. Harry Kim was in another shuttlecraft floating besides Joe's shuttle. Harry also had two Stargates and two ramps in his shuttle's mechanical arms and claws. Because they weren't retrieving Stargates from a planet and only had to transport Stargates a short distance from Voyager to Destiny in zero gravity, they didn't need to store the Stargates so securely. All the mechanical arms were stretched out. "I see what happened." Eli informed Joe and Harry. "The safety system engaged and kept the door locked because I kept the forcefield deactivated. I'm just trying to get around it now."

"You in a hurry to get in?" Harry asked Joe.

"Not really. Hey, you want to play catch with these frisbees?" Joe asked.

"Hahaha!" Harry responded.

"Yeah, I was right." Eli realised. "I'm re-enabling the force field now." Eli was at the computer interface console in Destiny's shuttlebay with Matthew, Ronald and Darren. They were all still in spacesuits because the shuttlebay still lacked an atmosphere. "Here we go." Joe and Harry saw the massive door start to open. "I think the forcefield is set to just keep the atmosphere in just like Voyager can but I'm not sure. Whoever comes in first just take it really slowly in case it stops you."

"Will do." Joe responded. "I'm coming in slowly." They all saw Joe's shuttle approach slowly. The Stargate touched the forcefield first and went right through. "Good job Eli." Joe's shuttle continued all the way in, with the forcefield flowing around the shuttle and the Stargates. Matthew pointed to a corner where the Stargates will be stored. Harry Kim followed him in. Marla Gilmore showed up a few minutes later in the third shuttlecraft with another two Stargates. The fourth shuttlecraft was still in Voyager's shuttlebay being repaired thanks to the damage it sustained two days ago in the battle with the drones.

"Man, you wouldn't believe the hoops we've had to fly through to get these Stargates to you!" Marla said. It took them several seconds to get the joke.

**Destiny – Stargate Room**

Captain Janeway, Chakotay and three other officers materialised in the gate room.

"Greetings Janeway." Colonel Everett Young was there to welcome them onboard. "Well, this is it. Destiny will be heading for your Earth tonight. Are these the three officers who are transferring to Destiny for the first leg of the trip?" Everett asked.

"Yes. Harry Kim will also be joining us but he's helping ship the Stargates over to Destiny right now." Janeway answered. "I haven't seen the shuttlebay yet. I wouldn't mind checking it out."

"You might have to wait a bit. It's not pressurised yet. I just got out of my spacesuit. I was there earlier."

"What about the members of Destiny transferring to Voyager?" Janeway asked.

"Half of them, including Eli, are in the shuttlebay right now helping move the Stargates. You'll need to give them an hour or two." Everett turned to Barnes. "Barnes, take these three officers to their quarters." They watched Barnes lead the way out of the Gate room followed by the three Voyager crewmembers.

"We have a delivery for you. We'll beam it in. Where is a good spot?" Janeway asked. Everett pointed to an area beside the Stargate. Janeway tapped her commbadge and provided instructions to the transportation officer on Voyager. About ten seconds later a rather large number of boxes appeared between the Stargate and the wall. "We've sorted through all the stuff that the people on Tareeno gave us. These are all the things your crew need more than Voyager. Half of them have food and beverages. The other half has all sorts of equipment."

Everett turned to a couple of soldiers and other crew members standing nearby. "I want an inventory of everything in these boxes. Then send all the boxes containing food and beverages to the kitchen." He turned back to Janeway. "There are a few things to discuss. We'll talk on the bridge."

**Destiny – Bridge**

Chakotay explained. "We believe the settler ship from planet Novus got up to about Warp 1.6 on its way to Tareeno. That's rather good considering they just invented warp technology and they didn't have any other alien races to help them out."

Everett said. "I remember somebody from Voyager explaining the warp numbers to us from those dinners we had on Voyager in the last few days. Warp 2 is several times faster than Warp 1 and so on."

"Correct." Chakotay confirmed. "It was the last settler ship to leave Novus but it was the first one to arrive. Looks like they'll have to wait centuries for the others to show up. All with tens of thousands of people frozen."

Janeway explained. "The settler ship used missiles to take out the drone mother ship while its attention was focused on the shuttlecraft and Hawk fighters."

"Matthew described the Hawk fighters that Tareeno's air force had." Everett explained. "He said they were comparable to the X-302 fighters that we built on Earth. The X-302 was designed based on alien technology that we managed to reverse-engineer."

"We're amazed at the help you guys managed to provide this week, especially on Tareeno." Janeway said. "We thought it would be mainly our crew helping out your crew because we're from the 24th century, but your crew continues to surprise us."

"Half of our crew consists of scientists." Everett explained. "They've proven themselves quite capable over the years. They've been learning Destiny's systems non-stop."

"I bet." Janeway agreed.

"And with the communication stones, we have access to the brightest minds at Stargate Command." Everett added.

"Well, luckily, the battle against the drones turned out okay." Janeway said relieved. "The people on Tareeno are grateful for our help and will help provide us with food and other resources if we run low."

"We might take them up on their offer." Everett said.

"We probably will. Now that we have the fusion reactors, they're just one Stargate jump away." Chakotay said.

"Onto the crewmembers being transferred." Everett changed subjects. "Eli is being transferred because of his expertise with Stargates. Lisa Park because she's a scientist and also so your EMH doctor can check up on her eyesight. We also have several soldiers who have volunteered. I'm not too sure why."

"We'll find something for them to do." Chakotay said.

Janeway looked at a datapad which had a list of the entire crew of Destiny. "Our EMH doctor will eventually give everyone on Destiny a checkup. Starting with the two people that you suggested."

"Tamara Johansen and Dale Volker." Everett named them.

"We heard their counterparts died within the first few years on Novus." Chakotay remembered other Voyager crewmembers telling stories of their adventures on Destiny over the dinners they've had this week. One of their more impressive stories was of how their failed plan to get back to Earth using the Stargate had ended with them starting a new population on the planet Novus.

"As for Destiny's journey to Earth, we'll stick to the plan." Everett recited. "Both Destiny and Voyager will go through the intergalactic wormhole to the Milky Way galaxy. Voyager will stay put at the Milky Way end of the wormhole. It will see Destiny off as it leaves for Earth, most likely after dinner tonight. Apart from unforeseen events and checking out the two Stargates on Destiny's path, Destiny will only come out of FTL once per day for four hours at dinnertime."

"That's the plan." Chakotay confirmed.

"Anything else?" Janeway asked.

"Oh yeah." Everett remembered. "The communication stones. We'll leave them on Voyager so we can remain in contact with Stargate Command on our Earth."

"And Voyager will periodically travel through the intergalactic wormhole back to this galaxy so the communication stones will work." Chakotay added.

"Then it looks like we're all set." Janeway agreed. "We'll all meet up for dinner tonight."

"And I'll update Stargate Command with the communication stones." Everett said.

"Matthew Scott to the bridge. Come in." They heard Matthew's voice over the radio.

"This is Everett. Go ahead."

"Voyager's shuttles have delivered all twelve Stargates. We've set them up in a row just like they were on Voyager."

"Good job. Make sure they're secure then you're done." Everett said.

"Will do. Over and out." Matthew finished.

"One more thing. I can't believe I almost forgot." Chakotay said. "The secrecy about the Stargates."

"Oh yeah. How'd we forget that?" Janeway asked in disbelief.

"I'll tell them." Chakotay said to Janeway. "We realised that although we have regained the ability to communicate with our Earth, we haven't yet had a chance to since we came to this galaxy. We also never got the chance when Destiny went through the wormhole a few days ago. That means Earth doesn't yet know about the Stargates. As safety is paramount to both our ships, we have decided to let it stay that way."

Janeway added. "We are not to mention the Stargates at all in any long-range subspace communication. The Stargates are now considered top secret classified information. We cannot tell Earth that we have Stargates on board."

Chakotay said. "Although we haven't yet found any intelligent life in this galaxy, not counting you guys of course," Everett smiled. "there are a rather large number of intelligent species all over the Milky Way galaxy. If people start bragging about the Stargates and what they can do…"

"We'll be hijacked." Everett finished.

"That is a possibility." Janeway confirmed. "For a while we won't even mention Destiny or the intergalactic wormhole. We will when we're a lot closer to Earth and within range of Starfleet, but not now."

Everett surmised. "Okay. So, we're going to sneak through the Milky Way galaxy at a rather high speed."

"Pretty much." Chakotay explained. "Destiny is so fast that by the time an aggressive or territorial spacecraft detects it, it will be too late to intercept it before it's gone."

"So be it. I'll notify our crew." Everett said.

"Great. Looks like Destiny will be leaving for Earth tonight." Janeway announced.

"We hope so." Chakotay said.

**Destiny – Stargate Room**

"These are the clothes we're supposed to be wearing?" Eli asked. After Eli had helped the soldiers store the Stargates in the shuttlebay, he had since gotten out of his spacesuit and gone to the gate room to check out all the equipment that their descendants on Tareeno had left them. Several other people were also there checking out the box's contents. "These are all black work trousers and office shirts." Eli complained. All the shirts had collars on them and were buttoned at the front.

"Standard issue for civilians." Greer smirked.

"After everything we've been through, are we still civilians anymore?" Chloe asked.

"We're all astronauts, Chloe." Eli answered. "To infinity and beyond! We actually qualify for that catchphrase, by the way. With the mileage that Destiny has done."

"Trousers again." TJ moaned. It then occurred to TJ that no female on Destiny has worn a dress in years. Not since they were on Earth.

Besides the clothes, the other items were toiletry items such as brushes, combs, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shavers, soap, perfume, washing powder and other items which are hard to come by on a spaceship.

"Finally, make-up!" Chloe shouted.

"At least the shirts are all different colours." Lisa realised.

**Voyager – Officer's Mess**

After some of Destiny's crew had managed to shower and change into their new clothes, they had been beamed over to Voyager for dinner. Dinner had gone rather well. The mood had been getting livelier and more jovial everyday seeing that preparations were now complete. The Stargates were stored on Destiny, crewmembers had been transferred, and everyone was anxious to see Voyager and Destiny go through the intergalactic wormhole, and then for Destiny to head off for Star Trek Earth.

Ding ding ding. Janeway tapped her glass with her spoon and stood up. The chatter subsided. "It's good to see everyone so happy tonight. Well, this is it! In order to celebrate the occasion, we have provided an audio link up to the mess room on Destiny, so that everyone on both ships can hear us. Can you hear us, Destiny?"

"YEAH!" Everyone in Desiny's Mess Hall answered, the voice carrying over to the speakers in Voyager's Mess Hall.

"Are you all getting drunk over there?" Janeway asked.

"YEAH!" They heard the chorus of voices over on Destiny call out. Then they heard laughter from Destiny. Janeway knew that Tom Paris and the other members of Voyager over there would be just as drunk as the others. Although B'Elanna would have to watch her liquor now that she's pregnant.

"Good. Right after dinner, we will travel through the intergalactic wormhole to the Milky Way galaxy." Janeway explained. "If all works out, Destiny will head off for Earth. Members will periodically transfer from one ship to the other. The crew from Destiny will get to check out the features of Voyager, and Voyager's crewmembers will help to study and repair Destiny. With our tricorders, we will be able to scan devices and greatly assist Destiny's people figure out what they are. I know a lot of our people from Voyager will be glad to spend time on another spaceship that looks a lot different to Voyager. Especially considering you've now spent six and a half years on this ship."

"Yeah." Janeway heard quite a few people from Voyager agree. "I'll let Everett Young take over."

Everett stood up. "I can't believe we're actually about to take off for Earth. It might not be our Earth, but it is 'a' Earth. I'm sure we'll have fun checking out what life is like on Earth in the 24th century. Eli has transferred to Voyager and will join in the expedition which will take two shuttlecraft and the fusion reactors and go galaxy hopping back to Earth. Are you ready, Eli?"

"Yeah, umm, I mean, we can do it." Eli answered. "Something tells me we'll need more fusion reactors."

"You'll be fine. They're building more." Everett assured Eli. "I've got to admit, I'm absolutely amazed at how well the two crews are getting along. I can't believe we all met about a week ago. All this has happened in the last week. We'll all get to know each other more over the next few months, which is how long I believe the journey to Earth will take."

"I'm sure the journey will be great." Janeway took over. "Remember, the great thing is, no matter how far Destiny gets from Voyager, we are always one stargate jump away. The fusion reactor has been reconnected to Destiny's stargate. Every night at dinnertime, Destiny will come out of warp, or FTL as they call it on Destiny, so we can compare notes and have dinner together. We are all going to get very used to that Stargate over the next few months. After tonight, it will be the only way to travel between the two ships. Boy, won't Starfleet be in for a surprise when we show them the Stargates!"

"Yes, they will." Chakotay stood up and announced. "Remember, everyone. The Stargates are classified. No one will mention the Stargates over any subspace transmission. Although Destiny will be in the Milky Way, it will still be over uncharted space. We have no idea what alien races Destiny may come across. Destiny will avoid contact wherever possible."

"One other thing. Destiny has had an addition." Janeway announced. "The Delta Flyer has docked with Destiny. The Flyer has been modified so it can dock in the same docking module as the other shuttles. It will travel with Destiny to Earth. There are a few reasons for this. As the Delta Flyer can not fit through a Stargate, it hasn't much use on Voyager at the moment. The Delta Flyer can warp as the other two shuttles cannot. It will also provide beaming technology to Destiny. People on Destiny will be able to beam to planets instead of having to use a shuttle." Janeway watched the amazed expressions on the people watching her. It was obvious several people hadn't thought of that. "Make sure you get a good vantage point for when we travel through the intergalactic wormhole. It's really something. We're leaving for Earth tonight. Watch your liquor, okay? You don't want to forget going through the intergalactic wormhole, do you?" Janeway saw several people nod in agreement. As soon as Janeway sat down, several crewmembers started sipping Romulan Ale, beer and other alcoholic beverages that they had. People from the Officer's Mess in Destiny did so likewise.

**Destiny – Observation Deck**

The observation deck was crowded with people who wanted to see the lightshow when Destiny and Voyager go through the wormhole. Most of them were tipsy after all the drinks they've had. The conversation was loud and there were a lot of giggling and laughing. They could see Voyager in front of them move ahead and then disappear into the wormhole.

"Get ready, people." They heard Everett Young's voice come over the speakers. "We're going to give Voyager a minute then follow it into the wormhole." It was mentioned during dinner that they should let Voyager and Destiny go through the wormhole separately for safety reasons. Because of the sheer speed and distance involved in going through the wormhole, the last thing they want is a collision between the two while in there. After a moment they heard the engines and feel the vibrations as Destiny started moving forward.

**Voyager – Officer's Mess**

Most of the people were lined up against the windows. As the windows there looked out the front of the ship, it had the most optimum view. As it entered the wormhole, all they could see was a kaleidoscope of colours. The colours were mostly blue and green, but now and then a whole lot more colours swirled about them. As the people in Voyager were just as drunk as on Destiny, it was a surreal experience.

"This is tripping!" Ronald Greer exclaimed.

"Now this is worth the price of admission!" Eli said in glee.

"They should have this at Disneyland." Matthew said.

**Destiny – Observation Deck**

"Whoa! Look at all the pretty colours!" Chloe said in wonder.

"We're in a spin cycle." Vanessa claimed. A lot of people watching the lightshow were giggling.

"Whose idea was it to get drunk while going through the wormhole?" Camile asked.

"That would be Adam Brody." Barnes answered.

"Not bad." Camile remarked.

**Destiny – Bridge – 20 minutes later**

"Destiny is all set. We're all ready for takeoff." Everett said to Janeway via communications.

Janeway replied from the bridge of Voyager. "Have a safe trip. We'll stay in contact using the Stargate once per day every day in the evening."

"And we will come out of FTL the same time every day." Everett added.

"The cool thing about the Stargate, no matter how far you get, we'll still be able to reach you by Stargate." Janeway marvelled.

"It sure is." Everett agreed. "It's a good thing we're talking using radio, instead of subspace, mentioning the Stargate." They had also decided earlier, whenever Destiny and Voyager are within a few thousand kilometres of each other or when they are communicating through an active Stargate, to communicate by radio instead of sub-space. As radio has a much shorter range than subspace, they don't have to worry about breaking their own rules when mentioning the Stargate.

"I did double-check we were using radio beforehand." Janeway said. "Look after my crew and I'll look after yours."

"Will do." Everett replied. "See what we're capable of when we team up? We're all going to get home."

"I'm just glad it's finally going to happen." Janeway said.

"We're going to take off now." Everett announced.

"Godspeed!" Janeway announced.

"Adam, is Destiny ready for FTL?" Everett asked Adam at the helm.

"Destiny's ready. Just give the word." Adam replied.

"Give us a five second countdown then go into FTL." Everett said.

"Five. Four. Three. Two. One!" Adam announced, then he hit the switch. The crew on the bridge saw the blackness of space by replaced by blue swirls of energy as they entered subspace. Destiny launched into FTL and streaked away in the direction of Earth.

* * *

They're finally heading for Earth! It only took them fifteen chapters. From this point on in the story I'll be skipping ahead a few days here and there so the journey doesn't take forever. It will only take them a few chapters to get to Earth. But don't worry, the story won't end just yet. You'll see what happens when they get there.

Next chapter: Eli and company go galaxy-hopping!


	16. Galaxy Hopping

A reminder: The TV shows Star Trek and Stargate and their spinoffs don't exist in either of the two parallel universes featured in this story so none of the characters will recognise each other from the TV shows. The characters have named the universes as the Star Trek universe and the Stargate universe because a lot of starships go trekking in the Star Trek universe and the Stargate universe is full of Stargates.

* * *

**Chapter 16 – Galaxy Hopping**

**Star Trek Universe - Voyager – Sick Bay**

"Please lie back on the bed." The EMH doctor instructed.

"This sick bay looks way better than the one on Destiny." Tamara Johansen noticed as she lay back.

"From what I hear Destiny is supposed to be more advanced." The EMH stated as he detached a small cylinder-shaped scanner off a medical tricorder and started scanning TJ with it.

"Destiny, yes. Destiny's sick bay, I don't know. I wouldn't have a clue what most of the gadgets do and the instructions are in Ancient."

"That can't be good. Now I hear that there was another you that died, and you believe that you might die the same way."

"That's one way to put it. The… other me died of ALS."

"You mean Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis?"

"Yes. Also known as Lou Gehrig's disease." TJ confirmed.

"Well, what do you know? You do have it."

"What?!" TJ asked in alarm.

"Don't worry, it's in its very early stages."

"There's no cure for it on Earth." TJ explained. "And I never had enough time to look for one on either Novus or Tareeno. Does 24th century Earth have the cure for it?"

"Yes. And so do I."

"Really?"

The Doctor walked over to a bench along the far wall. He opened a drawer and pulled out a hypospray. He walked over to another bench and plugged it into a larger device. "I can synthesize it here." The EMH pressed several buttons on the device's display pad. "Ahh, here we go." He picked up the hypospray and walked back over to TJ. The doctor held the hypospray up to her neck and pressed a button. TJ felt something enter her bloodstream.

"So how many treatments will I need?" TJ asked.

"Just the one. You're cured." The EMH replied.

"Say what?" TJ asked incredulously.

"You're cured. The cure was discovered at the turn of the 22nd century. You'll be fine now."

"Just like that?"

"Well, the serum will take several hours to go through your body if you want to get technical, but yes. You will no longer die of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis."

"Whoah." TJ said in disbelief.

"And the Doctor saves the day yet again. Please tell Dale Volker I will see him now."

**Voyager – Crew Quarters**

Eli Wallace lay back on his bed in the room that had been assigned to him on Voyager. He was still in his clothes and was lying on top of the covers. A DHD remote was in his hands. Although Voyager had made their own copies of a DHD remote which resembled a thick datapad, Eli had brought a DHD remote from Destiny along with a kino. The kino was floating beside the bed. Ever since Eli had discovered that there was a computer that listened to every word that everyone said on Voyager, Eli had been careful about what he said. This computer, which had a female voice, could also answer questions. But as Eli had discovered, Eli did not have any security clearance, so the computer would not answer most of his questions. Unfortunately, astronomy, physics and technology counted as high security. Apparently, long ago, whoever programmed starships computers had decided that visitors would be locked out of most of the computer's database. This was because most races that starships visited were of a much lower level of technology than Starfleet. It would be a breach of the Prime Directive to allow them to find out about technology which they did not already possess. The Voyager crew were happy to answer any questions for them, but they wouldn't let the ship's computer answer them. Most of the questions Eli asked got the reply,

"Insufficient security clearance."

Eli had come up with an idea. He was aware that Destiny's computer had hacked into Tuvok's and Vorik's tricorders while they were on Destiny. That meant it had probably hacked into all of the tricorders that have been on Destiny. If the DHD that Eli held in his hand can access Destiny's systems when it is within range, well, all he had to do was wait.

The DHD remote was currently displaying a list of Stargates in the Milky Way galaxy. The list was currently standing at eleven. This meant that the two fusion reactors connected to the Stargate in the shuttlebay was currently switched on and at 100%. This expanded the range of the Stargate to the entire Milky Way galaxy.

"Computer, what is the time?" Eli asked the room.

"The time is now 5:59pm." The computer with the female voice that came out of nowhere answered. Eli looked at his watch. 5:59pm. Voyager had decided to keep their time in sync with Destiny for convenience. 6:00pm. The list of Stargates jumped from eleven to twelve on the DHD display. That's military precision for you, Eli thought. The one advantage of having a starship under military control is they always kept to a strict protocol. Destiny had just come out of FTL. Eli got up and sat down on a chair and put the DHD remote on the table in front of him. Eli changed the menu screen to get ready for what he was about to do next. He knew Destiny was about to dial within the next minute to update Voyager. Eli kept his fingers hovering over the remote. He was ready. The DHD gave a few beeps which indicated an active Stargate wormhole. Suddenly the options that he could access on the DHD increased substantially. That meant it had automatically linked up with Destiny through the Stargate. Eli madly started pressing buttons. He knew what systems he needed to access. He raced through the menu screens. He managed to find where Destiny accessed other systems. There it is! Wow! Eli thought. Destiny had already hacked Voyager's systems. That skips that step then. Eli moved ahead, accessing Voyager's systems. He quickly managed to access the security clearance levels. I think I can! I think I can! There you are! Eli found his own details. Apparently, his rank is visitor. He changed his rank. He quickly backed out of the systems. Out of Voyager's systems, then out of Destiny's. Two seconds later, the wormhole deactivated. Destiny and Voyager must have updated their progress to each other. They'll dial again later for dinner.

Eli asked the room. "Computer, what is the weapons complement of Voyager?"

"USS Voyager currently has 11 phaser arrays and 77 photon torpedoes."

"What is my rank?"

"Eli Wallace now has the rank of Lieutenant."

"Sweet!"

Over the next two days, Eli had confessed to Dale Volker and Lisa Park, and asked them if he wanted to alter their ranks as well. To his surprise they said yes. Eli waited until the next time the wormhole was active between the two ships, then he repeated the procedure. Like Eli, they only gave themselves the rank of Lieutenant, not Captain. They all assumed that they might trip some sort of alert system if they all made themselves captain. Lisa Park felt guilty doing this seeing that Voyager's Doctor restored her eyesight. Lisa made them swear to only ask the computer questions when they were alone and not to alter or change something. Each time they were alone in their rooms, they would be asking the computer questions almost non-stop about anything from astronomy, physics, history, technological breakthroughs, entertainment and many other topics.

Eli, Dale and Lisa had talked to Janeway and Seven and convinced them that more fusion reactors were required. Back when they were on Destiny, they had gone into Destiny's records and discovered that there was a rather large gap between two galaxies that Destiny has travelled. Apparently, not only do stars hang around in groups, so do galaxies. A long time ago, Destiny had left one group of galaxies and joined up with another group. This gap was more than twice the distance than the one that Destiny had recently spent three years traversing. Eli suspected that Destiny had run low on power during that trip and come out of FTL, so it could drift at 99% the speed of light the rest of the way.

Voyager had only three fusion reactors again, as they had given one back to Destiny to extend the range of its Stargate again. It had taken Seven four days to build another four of them. Eventually, they had seven fusion reactors. Six of them will be taken on the expedition to go jumping from galaxy to galaxy back to Earth. The other one was connected to the Stargate on Voyager so they could maintain contact with Destiny.

**Stargate Universe - Voyager – Shuttlebay**

"Have you got all your gear?" Dale asked.

"I'm pretty sure this is all of it." Eli answered, heaving his bag up and into the class 2 shuttlecraft. He put his bag next to the bags of other crewmembers who were coming along. Lisa Park had also volunteered. The Voyager crew members coming along were Tuvok and Marla Gilmore. Voyager had travelled back through the intergalactic wormhole to the Stargate universe.

"Are you all ready?" Chakotay asked. He was there to see them off.

"I believe this is it." Dale answered.

"We better go over the checklist one more time. Just the highlights." Lisa pointed out. The six crewmembers of both shuttles stood together.

"Okay. Captain Janeway is making us take the two smaller shuttlecraft this time. The class 2." Dale announced to everybody. "Just so they'll fit through the Stargates easier with all the galaxy hopping we'll be doing. We'll be taking three fusion reactors on each shuttle. As we believe we will be encountering a rather large gap between two galaxies on our journey. As for numbering the galaxies…Eli, do you want to explain that?"

"Yeah." Eli answered. "Because we will be travelling through so many galaxies, we have decided to number them. As we know, Destiny will eventually come back to this galaxy and then continue on its mission to the next galaxy and so on, so we have decided not to start numbering the galaxies here. We will start numbering the galaxies at the other end. That is, the Milky Way. We will number the galaxies in the same order that Destiny first passed through them. That means the Milky Way galaxy will be galaxy number 1. Galaxy number 2 will be the Andromeda galaxy. The galaxy where we all gated to Destiny is number 38, planet Tareeno is in galaxy number 39 and we are now in galaxy number 40. As for where we are first going, Lisa?"

"We have decided for safety reasons not to dial any inhabited planets." Lisa explained. "Not even Tareeno. We don't want to risk the air force base there confiscating our fusion reactors. General Stanley is not the friendliest person. In order to avoid drones, we have decided to skip Galaxy 39 altogether. Now that we have two sets of three fusion reactors, we're going to try to jump straight to galaxy number 38. Luckily, we have managed to download a rather large number of dialling addresses for all 40 galaxies from Destiny. We will use the kinos and radio transmitters to hopefully find safe planets to gate through for the journey."

"Perfect." Chakotay summed it up. "Turn on the fusion reactors and get out of here."

"Sure thing." Joe Carey responded. Joe, Dale and Lisa walked into one shuttlecraft. Eli, Tuvok & Marla got into the other shuttlecraft. The fusion reactor that was usually plugged into the Stargate had been disconnected. This was so they could plug three fusion reactors from Tuvok's shuttle into it instead. The other three fusion reactors were in Joe's shuttlecraft. Marla powered up the fusion reactors in Tuvok's shuttle. After two minutes, they were all up to 100%. Dale dialled a planet in galaxy number 38. The gate started rotating back and forth. Then a kawoosh burst out of the gate before retreating to the event horizon.

"Yes!" Eli rejoiced. "We can now skip galaxies!"

"Throw the radio transmitter through." Tuvok said to Eli. He complied.

"We have a signal." Lisa pointed out.

"I'll send the kino through." Joe announced. He pressed a few buttons and the black, square kino floating in front of Chakotay moved forward into the event horizon.

"We have video and sensor readings." Dale announced. Dale had the DHD remote that Eli had earlier in his room. Joe Carey has a version of the DHDs that were built based on scanning Destiny's DHD remote. "It's the desert planet."

"Go for it!" Chakotay cheered them on. Joe Carey piloted the shuttle with Dale Volker and Lisa Park through the wormhole. On the desert planet they plugged in the three fusion reactors into the Stargate. When it was at 100%, Marla powered down the 3 reactors on Voyager. She then unplugged the power cable from the Stargate. Eli and Marla pulled the power cable back onboard the shuttle then closed the hatch behind them. Tuvok operated the controls and the shuttlecraft raised itself three feet above the ground, hovering. It then started moving forward.

"I am moving into the wormhole now." Tuvok announced. Chakotay watched the shuttle disappear into the event horizon.

**Stargate Universe – Galaxy 38 – Desert Planet**

"I never thought I'd see this planet again." Eli realized. They had deactivated the wormhole.

"If I remember correctly, you never visited this planet." Dale Volker pointed out.

"Not when you did. I came back later." Eli said

"Why exactly are we on this planet?" Tuvok asked. They were still in the two shuttlecraft. As before, both shuttles were connected by audio hookup so they can talk to each other.

"There is a spaceship here which I believe you will find very valuable." Eli answered.

"Isn't this the planet where Rush was presumed dead?" Lisa asked.

"This is the one." Eli answered. "It's the planet that Matthew, Chloe and I revisited a few months later."

"Where is the spaceship?" Tuvok asked.

"I remember. I'll show you." Dale said. "But first, scan for any other spaceships flying around. Rush was taken by blue aliens when he was marooned here."

"Scanning." Tuvok stated. "No spaceships on sensors. Not in the air, anyway. I am however, picking up a spaceship on land about three kilometres from here."

"That will be the one." Dale confirmed. "Let's go." They wondered whether to leave Joe Carey's shuttlecraft with the three fusion reactors plugged into the stargate. They realised that since they can disconnect or reconnect the power cable to the Stargate in one minute, they had decided to disconnect it so both shuttles could stay together. Two minutes later both shuttlecraft were hovering in front of the crashed alien spaceship.

"The hole is still open." Eli observed. "Good. Bring your tricorders. We're going inside."

"What is so important in there?" Tuvok asked.

"You'll find out." Eli answered. He opened the hatch. Because they hadn't detected any spaceships, they felt confident to leave both shuttlecraft parked next to the spaceship and all six of them managed to climb up through the hole on the underside of the spaceship. Eli found the computer console that he, Matthew and Chloe operated the last time they were here. "Your tricorders can download the database of other computers, right?"

"For some computers, that would be correct." Tuvok answered.

"See if you can download the information on this computer." Eli said.

"What does it contain?" Tuvok asked while he tried to interface his tricorder to the alien computer.

"At least two things that we were able to ascertain." Eli answered. "A star map of this galaxy and dialling addresses of possibly every Stargate in this galaxy."

"That would be helpful alright." Marla agreed.

"Seeing how much interest you're giving the Stargate, this could really give you a head start." Eli said. "Who knows what other information this contains."

"If this thing contains Stargate addresses," Joe Carey pointed out, "Then they might have been studying the Stargates themselves."

"Most probably, but just concentrate on downloading the data first. You can check it out later." Eli said. "We might still have uninvited guests show up soon."

"It's working." Marla realized. "Download commencing."

"Same here." Joe added.

"This map is indeed of the whole galaxy." Tuvok noticed. "It is rather detailed. Do you know how fast this spacecraft is capable of?"

"Not really. We think this ship belonged to the blue aliens, but we never found out for sure." Eli answered. "We know they're capable of intergalactic travel themselves because they managed to catch up to us in galaxy 39 once."

"I wouldn't advise trying to track down these blue aliens and trying to have a chat with them." Dale warned.

"They're only interested in stealing your technology." Lisa added.

"Duly noted." Tuvok said.

"We've only managed to chart about twenty percent of our galaxy, given the speed limit of our starships." Joe explained.

"Download complete." Tuvok announced.

"We should get out of here." Dale pointed out.

"Indeed." Tuvok agreed.

They made their way to the shuttlecrafts, then made their way to the Stargate. They plugged in the fusion reactors and made their way to galaxy 36.

**Star Trek Universe - Destiny – Repair Bay**

"We'll call this room the Repair Bay." Everett announced. It had taken four days for the two repair bots to repair the holes in Destiny on the lower floor so they could re-pressurize the lower section containing the shuttlebay, the repair bay and several other rooms and corridors. They had only re-pressurized it an hour ago. Several people were now exploring the newly opened section.

Rush mentioned. "I hardly need to mention how important this repair bay is."

Adam pointed out. "It will be once we figure out how all this works."

"We won't need to rely on Voyager so much. Figure out how it works." Everett ordered. He then walked out of the Repair Bay.

"Okay then." Adam said. He put a broken circuit breaker on a square table in the middle of the room. He saw a control panel on one end of the table. "Guess I'll start by figuring out what this table is for." He started pressing buttons and going through the menu screens on the display.

An hour later Chloe was walking along a corridor and saw Adam inserting a device into an open panel in the wall. Chloe was about to walk past him but as she got closer, the device he put in lit up. It lit up the other parts around it as well.

"Yes!" Adam shouted.

"Gee, you're happy. I can't remember the last time I saw you happy. What did you just fix?" Chloe asked.

"I just fixed a circuit breaker, but that isn't the point. It's what it means."

"What does it mean?"

"I figured out how one of the devices in the repair bay works and used it to fix this."

"Good on you."

"What's really cool is I just had the circuit breaker sitting on a tabletop. There was a control panel there and I pressed a few buttons. The screen displayed that it was repairing it, but the circuit breaker was just sitting there by itself on the tabletop. Then the screen displayed that it was repaired. Nothing touched it. I was wondering what was going on, but when I looked closer at the circuit display, I could see it looked different. I took it back here to test it and presto! It works."

"How on Earth did it repair it?" Chloe asked.

"As far as I can tell I think it was with nanobots."

"Nanobots? I've heard of that. You mean millions of tiny machines too small to see?"

"That's right. I've got a hunch the tabletop is made out of millions, or maybe even billions, of nanobots. If my theory is correct, that table can fix anything on Destiny. Or at least anything that Destiny has the specs for."

"This means we're going to be fixing things way faster than before, now, right?"

"You better believe it." Adam confirmed. "It looks like the nanobots can fix devices at a molecular level." Adam then grabbed a few more broken gadgets from nearby rooms and corridors and made his way back to the repair bay. Chloe decided to follow him. Currently the only way there was still by elevator. There is another way, but it is not pressurised yet. In the repair bay Chloe watched Adam place the devices on the tabletop. She watched Adam closely as he pressed buttons on the control panel at one end of the table. True enough, the display pad displayed that it was repairing the devices, and after about ten minutes, the devices were repaired. Chloe helped Adam carry the devices back to where he got them from. Adam plugged them back in, and, one by one, they all worked.

"We really hit the goldmine this time." Chloe realised.

"About time we scored a break." Adam said sarcastically.

Later that day, Camile Wray was walking along a corridor and saw Chloe inserting a light bulb in a socket at the top of the wall in the diagonal arch where it meets the ceiling. The light bulb lit up when it was inserted.

"Did you find a stash of spare light bulbs?" Camile asked.

"No. This is the same bulb I took out of this socket." Chloe answered as she fixed the flat light shield into place over the light bulb. "It was broken when I took it out." She had a bag containing light bulbs. There was a row of lights all along the top of the wall along the corridor. There was also a row of lights along the bottom of the wall, but Chloe wasn't bothering with them. Chloe moved along the corridor to where another empty socket was. Chloe put another bulb in. It lit up.

"You fixed them in that new repair bay?" Camile asked.

"Sure did."

"Why repair light bulbs? Aren't there more important parts to fix?"

"Yes, there sure are, but I'll let the engineers and scientists worry about that."

"Chloe, why the light bulbs?"

"The thing is, Voyager resembles a luxurious cruise liner and Destiny, by comparison, resembles an oil freighter. I wouldn't call Destiny ugly, I admit it does have character, but when you compare it to Voyager, well, I've decided to spruce it up a little."

"Are you going to replace every broken light bulb on Destiny?" Camile asked.

"No silly. I'm only going to brighten up some of the darker corridors here and there. At least it's not going to look like a ghost ship anymore."

"What about your other duties?"

"I'm still learning more of Destiny's systems. But I'm certainly not going to be sitting in front of a computer all day long, even if I do still have the enhanced mind skills that the blue aliens left me."

"Just don't electrocute yourself, okay?"

**Stargate Universe - Galaxy 32**

Tuvok, Marla Gilmore, Eli Wallace, Joe Carey, Dale Volker and Lisa Park had travelled from galaxy 36 to galaxy 34 and then to galaxy 32. On each trip, they had chosen Stargates that were not locked out. They had preferred planets with a breathable atmosphere, even though the mechanical arms on the underside of the shuttles were capable of plugging the power cables into the Stargate. They had also decided to only choose uninhabited worlds to reduce the chance of trouble on future visits. When they were on a planet in galaxy 32, they looked up and saw a plane fly high overhead. The plane was so high they could barely see it, but the sensors on the two shuttlecraft could zoom in on it. From what the sensors could determine, it was a commercial airliner but it resembled a giant metallic bird. Apparently, the inhabitants on this planet had technology comparable to late 20th century Earth. They also liked to construct their aircraft so they resembled birds. The crew of the two shuttlecraft looked around at their surroundings. It looked like they were in the middle of nowhere. All around them were trees and vines. Wait, hang on. They thought. Tuvok and Marka started scanning their surroundings with their tricorders. They noticed that what they thought were trees and vines were actually telegraph poles and telegraph cables. They wondered why the Stargate was left out in the open on an inhabited world. Maybe they didn't know what a Stargate was and that it was just decoration? Or maybe there was no such thing as indoors? They decided to get out of there as quick as they could before an inhabitant sees them. They quickly dialled up another planet in the same galaxy and left through the Stargate.

The next planet was more suitable. They scanned all around them with their tricorders. No sign of technology except what they brought with them and the Stargate itself. They decided this would be the planet they'd use when they're passing through again in the future. They dialled up a planet in galaxy 30 and gated out of there.

**Stargate Universe - Galaxy 30 – Jungle Planet**

The two shuttlecraft emerged out of the Stargate onto another planet. They found themselves in a jungle with long grass and trees nearby. Because of the long grass and the fact that the shuttle's sensors were telling them this planet was full of four-legged creatures and insects, they had decided to stay in the shuttles. There's no telling what could bite them in the long grass.

They left the three fusion reactors powered up so the list of Stargates will quickly populate on the DHD remote. They realised something was wrong when the number of Stargates showing up on the display was less than intended.

"We might have a problem here." Lisa Park announced while looking at the display screen of the DHD remote.

"You referring to the eighth symbol on all the Stargates in this list?" Eli asked.

"Correct." Lisa confirmed.

"What's up?" Marla asked. "There's still over ten thousand Stargates on this list."

"Check which galaxies they're from, then you'll see it." Eli pointed out.

"I see it." Dale said.

"As do I." Agreed Tuvok.

"I think I see it." Joe Carey said.

"Let's see." Marla thought out loud. She had a DHD remote in one hand, and in the other hand was a sheet of paper with details which eighth symbol corresponds with which galaxy. "That one is galaxy 31, 32, 29…" She looked a bit more before realising, "Oh I've got it! There are no Stargates from galaxy 28."

"Bingo!" Eli said.

"What about this symbol here?" Asked Marla.

"That's not galaxy 28." Tuvok stated.

"It's not on the list. That means it's another nearby galaxy off to the side." Dale said. "That will take us off course. We're not going there."

"Does that mean there's something wrong with the fusion reactors?" Marla asked.

"If that was true, we wouldn't be picking up any Stargates from Galaxy 32." Tuvok pointed out.

"It means Galaxy 28 is out of range." Dale said.

"It looks like we found the gap." Eli said.

"Correct." Tuvok agreed.

"The gap is between galaxy 29 and 30." Lisa clarified.

Eli explained. "We believe this was where Destiny ran low on power while travelling between galaxies and had to drift the rest of the way."

"at 99% the speed of light." Dale added.

"That would have taken Destiny thousands of years." Tuvok said.

"Most definitely." Dale agreed. "Destiny was built to last. It could do it."

Eli said. "If we only had two fusion reactors, we wouldn't even be able to see Galaxy 29."

"What does this mean?" Marla asked.

"It means we're going to galaxy 29 and continue on from there." Eli said.

"Correct." Tuvok said.

"Onward to the next galaxy." Joe Carey said.

**Stargate Universe - Galaxy 29 – Forest Planet**

The Stargate activated. A radio transmitter popped out of the event horizon and landed on the ramp. A moment later a square kino floated out of the gate. A minute later a shuttlecraft exited the Stargate and found themselves in a clearing surrounded by trees in the distance. The shuttlecraft turned around so the crew could look at the Stargate. They were about to manoeuvre the shuttle around to land beside the Stargate so they could plug the three fusion reactors into the Stargate when the crew took a close look at the Stargate.

"Hey, guys?" Eli asked. "Do you notice anything different about the Stargate?"

"It does appear to be a different type of Stargate." Tuvok agreed.

"Yeah. That one looks different." Marla confirmed.

"First, we plug in the fusion reactors." Tuvok pointed out.

"Right." Eli said. Eli then said into the intercom. "Joe, you might need to give us a couple of minutes here. The Stargate is different. I need to find where to plug in the fusion reactors."

"I'm holding position." Joe's voice came through the speakers. Eli checked the DHD display. The atmosphere was breathable, so Eli opened the hatch and exited the shuttlecraft. He made his way over to the Stargate and inspected it. Within two minutes he found where the corresponding mounts were for attaching the power cable. In another minute the cable was connected.

"Start up the fusion reactors." Eli announced.

"Powering them up now." Marla stated. Within another two minutes, the three fusion reactors were at 100 percent each. Tuvok contacted the other shuttle and gave the okay. The other shuttle powered down the three fusion reactors at their end and detached the power cable. Tuvok, Marla and Eli saw the second shuttle appear and fly out of the Stargate. They deactivated the wormhole.

"Wow! I guess I should have expected this." Dale said when they turned their shuttle around to see the Stargate.

"Whoa! I haven't seen one of those in a while." Lisa realised.

"You've seen that type before?" Joe asked.

"Yes, we have." Dale answered. "That, my dear friends, is a Stargate 2.0."

**Star Trek Universe – Milky Way Galaxy - Destiny**

Destiny continued to cruise at FTL through the Milky Way Galaxy. In the first week after Destiny had commenced its journey in the Milky Way galaxy, they had narrowly missed encountering a Klingon D-7 class cruiser with 204 Klingons that had become highly religious during their century long journey through the galaxy. Destiny also missed a Talaxian settlement inside an asteroid in an asteroid field. They also bypassed a Nebula containing Borg and a transwarp conduit.

Destiny had kept to its schedule of only coming out of FTL at dinner time so the crews of Voyager and Destiny could have dinner together. Since planet Tareeno had provided Destiny with food, they have been able to provide themselves with food and even cook it for themselves in Destiny's kitchen. Voyager only helped out now and then with replicated dessert. Destiny did come out of FTL one morning when it arrived at its first pit stop.

"Attention, crew." Everett Young's voice boomed out of Destiny's speakers. "We have arrived at the location of the first Stargate. We have decided to have the Delta Flyer fly down to the planet the Stargate is on. Depending on what we find down there, it will bring the Stargate back to Destiny if possible."

"B'Elanna, you ready?" Tom asked. They were in their quarters quickly putting their clothes back on. Tom put on his last shoe. B'Elanna still had half her clothes to go.

"Give me a minute." B'Elanna responded.

"This is our first chance to get off Destiny and check out a planet."

"You just want to fly the Delta Flyer."

"True. But you get to see the outdoors."

"True." Within two minutes, B'Elanna was ready and they both left their quarters. When they arrived at the Delta Flyer, there were several people already there.

"Morning, Harry." Tom greeted.

"Morning." Harry replied.

"Tom." Everett said. "Although you'll be taking the Delta Flyer down to the planet, we want you to beam several people down there beforehand so we can check it out."

"Sure thing." Tom replied. "We'll just need to scan the planet first to see what we're expecting."

"Go for it." Everett said. B'Elanna Torres sat down at one of the consoles.

"I'm scanning now." B'Elanna announced. "I'm not picking up any advanced technology. The civilisation down there is humanoid. Population just over one billion. The technology is comparable to mid-20th century. I'm searching for the Stargate now." B'Elanna pressed more buttons, fine tuning the search to look for a match for the Stargate. "There. Found it. For some reason it's in the middle of a field in the countryside. The nearest humanoid is two kilometres away."

"Good." Nicholas Rush said. "We won't have to worry too much about any locals then."

"Let's beam you down then." Tom said.

**Star Trek Universe – Milky Way Galaxy – Surface of a Planet**

Nicholas Rush, Everett Young, Harry Kim, Chloe Amstrong, Adam Brody, Vanessa James and three soldiers from Destiny materialised on the surface of the planet. They looked around and found themselves in a large field. They noticed small plants in exceptionally long rows going almost as far as the eye could see. Then in the distance they could see fences and a line of trees.

"We're in a paddock." Adam realised.

"On a farm." Chloe added.

"There's no Stargate here." Nicholas observed. They all looked around. The small plants were the only things beside themselves in the paddock.

"Hey, B'Elanna." Harry tapped his commbadge. "Do you want to doublecheck the co-ordinates? There's no Stargate here."

"I've checked the co-ordinates." B'Elanna's voice came out of the commbadge. "According to my sensors, there's a Stargate right in front of you."

Nicholas Rush was looking at a DHD remote in his hands. "There is a Stargate here. This DHD has interfaced with it."

Adam figured it out. He said to Harry. "You're going to have to point that tricorder toward the ground. It's buried."

"There it is." Harry confirmed. He walked about five metres away from the group. Then he stopped and pointed the tricorder at his feet. "I'm standing on top of it. The top of it is about two metres below me. I think it's upright."

"There are 12 Stargates displaying in the list of Stargates." Nicholas Rush explained. "Including Destiny and the one on Voyager. Destiny is locked out. If it's picking up the Stargate on Voyager, then Voyager must currently be on this side of the intergalactic wormhole."

"Why would Destiny be locked out?" Chloe asked.

"It's too close." Adam explained. "Destiny is in orbit right above us." Adam turned to Nicholas. "This is a Stargate 2.0 model, isn't it?"

"It is." Nicholas replied.

"How do you know?" Chloe asked.

"This Stargate can see all the other Stargates in this galaxy." Adam explained. "It's not limited to only a few hundred light years like the Stargate 1.0."

Nicholas added. "I believe this Stargate has now superseded the one on Destiny. Destiny's Stargate will no longer work while this Stargate is nearby."

Adam realised. "If this is a Stargate 2.0, just like the one on our Earth, then it should have its own DHD. Harry, scan around this area." Adam pointed around his feet at an area in front of the Stargate. "The Dial Home Device would resemble a control panel, round at the top. It would be buried somewhere in front of the Stargate." Harry started scanning in the direction indicated by Adam.

"Yeah, there's definitely something down there." Harry replied, pointing his tricorder down after walking several metres away from where the Stargate is buried.

"Why would these people bury the Stargate?" Chloe asked.

"I don't think anyone did bury the Stargate." Rush theorised.

"Yeah." Adam agreed. "Something is telling me this Stargate has been buried a really long time."

"These inhabitants don't even know this Stargate is here." Rush concluded.

"Well, there goes my theory that this was a really advanced race that stole this Stargate from our universe." Chloe realised.

"No, they don't even know about it." Adam said.

"How did this Stargate get buried then?" Chloe asked.

"Harry, how good is that tricorder?" Nicholas asked.

"The best that 24th century technology can offer." Harry replied.

"Can you scan that mountain over there?" Nicholas pointed to a mountain about 6 kilometres away. "Can it tell if that is an extinct volcano?"

"It's too far for my tricorder. I'll call Tom in the Flyer." Harry then used his combadge to contact Tom in the Delta Flyer and asked him. Tom used the larger and more capable sensors in the Delta Flyer to scan the mountain.

They heard Tom's reply on Harry's combadge. "Hey, you're right. It used to be a volcano, but as far as my sensors can tell, it hasn't erupted in almost a million years. It's an extinct volcano. I'm flying over the mountain now. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Harry, can you scan the soil below?" Nicholas asked. "Find out if it used to be either lava or ash in the past?" Harry scanned the soil below him.

"The readings are hard to determine because it happened so long ago." Harry answered. "It could be either but it's starting to lean more towards ash."

"It would be ash." Nicholas confirmed. "If it was lava, it would have destroyed the DHD. But this Stargate has superseded the Stargate 1.0 on the Destiny, which means the DHD is still functioning down there."

"So, there is nothing wrong with either the Stargate or the DHD?" Everett asked.

"No." Nicholas asked. "They are both working perfectly. Apparently, a long time ago, that mountain over there was a volcano and it erupted. The lava never reached it. The ash however, buried it."

"Isn't this one of the Stargates we dialled a week ago?" Chloe asked. "A radio transmitter was thrown in, but it didn't transmit anything. Wouldn't the kawoosh open up some space for the radio transmitter?"

"I have a theory about that." Rush replied.

"Let's hear it." Everett said.

"The kawoosh as the Stargate activates usually incinerates everything in its path." Rush explained. "But here it failed to clear the soil out of the way. The surrounding soil prevented that. What it did instead was superheat the soil into lava. When Vorik threw the radio transmitter into the Stargate, the lava here would have been pressing against the event horizon. It would have prevented the radio transmitter from forming. The same with the other Stargates Vorik tried."

They looked up and saw the Delta Flyer approach.

"I wonder how they're going to get the Stargate out of the ground?" Everett pondered.

**Stargate Universe - Galaxy 29 – Forest Planet**

"I found it!" Eli said. He removed vines and leaves to reveal the DHD that belonged to the Stargate. "It looks like nobody's used this Stargate in a long time if the DHD has been overgrown by the bush."

"Indeed." Tuvok agreed.

"You know, this is only the second Stargate 2.0 that I've seen out of my own eyes." Eli revealed. "The first time was on Icarus."

"What about the one on Earth?" Dale asked.

"Using the communication stones doesn't count. That's someone else's eyes. The DVDs don't count either."

"The fact that this is a Stargate 2.0 changes things now." Dale asked.

"How so?" Marla asked.

"The extra range." Dale answered.

"A new opportunity has revealed itself." Tuvok realised. "What would be the best way to proceed?"

"We plug all six fusion reactors together. Plug them into the Stargate." Dale answered. "See how far the Stargate can reach."

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot!" Eli remembered. "Rush told us if we came across a Stargate 2.0 to find out how long it had been here. Tuvok, Rush is going to want a detailed scan of this Stargate with the tricorder. He would want to know as accurately as possible when this Stargate was put on this planet."

"If it has been here for hundreds of thousands of years, I'll probably only be able to narrow it down to within a few centuries." Tuvok pointed his tricorder at the Stargate. "Commencing scan."

"Let's plug all six of them together." Dale said. It didn't take them long. They only had to plug one power cable from the three fusion reactors in one shuttlecraft into the other three fusion reactors in the other shuttlecraft. Dale turned on all six fusion reactors. Within a minute, they were all at 100% power each.

"Let's test out the range." Eli said excitedly. He looked at the DHD. Within another minute the list of stargates within range started to increase rapidly.

"I've finished scanning the Stargate." Tuvok announced. "It's inconclusive on when the Stargate was placed here. However, I have a more accurate reading on how old this Stargate is, which I believe would be just prior to this Stargate being placed on this planet. This Stargate is 785,400 years old, give or take a few centuries."

"Wow!" Eli exclaimed.

"I thought all Stargate 2.0 models were around 50 million years old." Lisa Park wondered out loud.

"Correction." Dale clarified. "All Stargate 2.0 models in the Milky Way galaxy are 50 million years old. But the seeder ships take time to spread out through the galaxies. They would construct the Stargates as they go. This Stargate here is a lot younger than the one on Earth."

"Oh yeah. I didn't think of that." Lisa realised.

"But you're right." Dale added. "This Stargate should still be well over 49 million years old. But it's not."

"Guys?" Eli called out. "This list of Stargates is still populating. The DHD here is not only picking up Stargates in the galaxies we've been through or will go through. It's also picking up Stargates in galaxies off to the sides. It is giving me a total here which is still going up. There are over a million stargates in range!"

Dale whistled.

"That's incredible!" Lisa Park said amazed.

"That's beyond belief!" Marla agreed.

"These Stargates are definitely an incredible piece of technology!" Joe said wide-eyed. "And they were invented millions of years ago!"

Tuvok brought them back to business. "We need to determine exactly how far ahead and behind us this Stargate can now reach."

"Let's see." Eli thought out loud. "There's no way to scroll through a list this big. The easiest way is to type in an address of Stargates we've been to, to see if there is a match." Eli started entering dialling symbols. Within a moment he had a match. "Holy crap! It can see all the way to galaxy 39. Just one galaxy short. Voyager is in galaxy 40. Let's see how far we can go in the other direction, to Earth. Let's see, I'll enter an address for a Stargate in Galaxy 20." They had brought a list of Stargate addresses in every galaxy Destiny had been to which they had managed to acquire from Destiny. "We have a match! This Stargate can reach galaxy 20."

"Keep going. see how much further you can go." Lisa insisted.

"Let's try galaxy 15." Eli said. He entered the dialling address of a Stargate in galaxy 15. "Nope. Too far. Let's try 16. Nope. Let's try galaxy 17. We have a match!"

Tuvok calculated. "Apparently, plugging a fusion reactor into a Stargate 2.0 doubles the range compared to a fusion reactor powered Stargate 1.0."

"Where do we go from here?" Marla enquired.

"This has changed the mission somewhat." Dale realised.

"How so?" Marla asked.

"The current way of travelling." Dale pointed out. "Hopping from galaxy to galaxy. The possibility of something going wrong with all that gate travel. All that plugging in and unplugging of fusion reactors with that kind of power going through it. It's dangerous."

"The Stargate 2.0 has provided us with another opportunity." Tuvok stated.

"And that would be?" Marla asked.

"The current way of travelling from galaxy 40 to the Milky Way galaxy would involve around twenty Stargate jumps." Tuvok explained. "However, if we build a lot more fusion reactors, I believe we can reduce that to three jumps. The first jump would be from Voyager in galaxy 40 to here in galaxy 29. Then from here to galaxy 14. From there, to Earth."

"We have a plan!" Eli exclaimed. "Seven will be busy, building all those fusion reactors."

"How many more fusion reactors will that be?" Lisa asked.

"Fifteen will be required on Voyager so people can gate here." Tuvok answered. "Eight fusion reactors will be placed here. Another eight in galaxy 14. Also, another eight fusion reactors on Earth. Thirty-nine fusion reactors in total. Voyager already has one and we have six here, so, thirty-two more fusion reactors are required."

"Poor Seven!" Marla whined. "She's going to feel like a Borg drone again churning out all those fusion reactors!"

"So, where do we go now?" Eli asked. "To Earth or back to Voyager."

"I believe we will need to keep going forward." Tuvok answered. "At least to galaxy 14. We need to find a safe planet to set up the fusion reactors there. Then we'll decide."

"Looks like we're going galaxy hopping again." Eli realised.

**Star Trek Universe – Milky Way Galaxy – Surface of a Planet**

The away team on the ground were watching the Delta Flyer carve up the ground with a phaser. They were all wondering how they were going to get the Stargate out of the ground. Tom Paris had said the transporters in the Delta Flyer were not quite capable of beaming an object that large from site to site. It could only do Transporter pad to site, or site to transporter pad, but not site to site. As the Stargate would not fit inside the Delta Flyer, beaming was not an option. Instead they had come up with the option of narrowing the phaser into a pencil thin beam and use it to carve up the ground around the Stargate. Then, while the Delta Flyer was still hovering above the ground, it had activated its tractor beam. It slowly raised a huge block of soil containing both the Stargate and its ramp. Once the block of soil was above the ground, Tom had the tractor beam move it off to the side and lower it to the ground right next to the huge square hole he had created. Tom double-checked the phaser setting to make sure it was still on its lowest setting, so he didn't have to worry about obliterating everyone around him. Then he started blasting the block of soil. He was careful with his aiming, making sure he only blasted the soil, not the Stargate. Within five minutes, the Stargate and the ramp were uncovered. Tom used the tractor beam to push all the dislocated dirt back in the hole.

"Looks like we've finally got ourselves a genuine Stargate 2.0." Tom Paris called out while mimicking a Western cowboy, his voice coming out of Harry's commbadge.

"Albeit a very dirty one." Vanessa clarified.

"Tom, you've forgotten something." Everett noticed.

"I got both the Stargate and the ramp." Tom replied.

"The DHD. It's still down there." Everett said.

"What DHD?" Tom asked.

"Nobody told him?" Chloe asked.

**Stargate Universe - Galaxy 12 – Desert Planet – Night**

The two shuttlecraft were parked beside the Stargate on a desert planet in galaxy 12. They had originally decided to only go as far as galaxy 14, but on the way there they had decided to make one more jump. Just because of what the range of a Stargate powered by six fusion reactors there is.

"It's all hooked up. All six fusion reactors are at 100%." Dale announced. "Let's see what this Stargate can do."

"I'm dialling the Stargate." Eli announced. He decided to use the larger DHD that belonged to this Stargate. It was ten metres to the front and slightly to the side of the Stargate. "I finally get to use one of these." He pressed the symbols of the required address. They watched the inner ring rotate back and forth on its wheel. The chevrons lit up one after the other. The seventh chevron lit up. The kawoosh erupted out of the Stargate then settled back into the event horizon.

"This is Dale Volker, a crew member of Destiny. Come in." Dale Volker said into the radio.

"This is Stargate Command. The iris is closed. Please submit your I.D.C." The voice requested.

"Transmitting I.D.C." Dale replied. He entered the code given to him yesterday. Yesterday while they were on Voyager, Dale, Eli and Lisa had used the communication stones to contact Stargate Command and they were given a new I.D.C (Iris Identification Code).

"I.D.C accepted. We have opened the iris." The voice stated.

"Roger." Dale replied. Dale, Eli and Lisa looked at each other. They started to walk up the ramp to the event horizon. All three stopped less than two feet from the shimmering blue energy.

"That's really Earth on the other side." Eli realised.

"For the longest time I was wondering if I'd ever see it." Dale said in amazement.

"It's so near, and yet so far." Lisa said in wonder.

"That's Earth in the year 2014." Eli said, lost in thought.

"What appears to be the problem?" Tuvok asked. Tuvok, Marla and Joe were standing at the bottom of the ramp.

"We're…lost in thought." Eli answered.

"This might be a one-way trip." Dale pointed out.

"Stargate Command might never let us see Destiny again." Lisa contemplated.

"Our adventures would be over." Eli realised.

"Is anyone coming through the Stargate?" The voice coming out of the radio asked.

Eli spoke into the radio. "No Walter. Our adventures are not over yet." He replied, signifying that he recognised the voice at the other end of the radio. When they had used the communication stones in the past, sometimes they showed up in Washington DC. But other times, they found themselves at Stargate Command in the Cheyenne Mountain complex, where they operate the Stargate. For various reasons, they move the communication stones back and forth between the two sites.

"Okay, Eli." Walter Harriman replied, signifying that he also knew who it was.

Eli, surprised, asked, "Walter, all the times I met you at Stargate Command it was through another body using the Communication Stones. How did you know it was me?"

"Oh, believe me, Eli. I recognise your enthusiasm. Only you talk like that." Walter answered.

"We'll give a quick rundown on the new plan we have." Dale said. He then reported on the change of mission, about how they will be producing much more fusion reactors and have two pit stops between Voyager and Earth using Stargates at Galaxy 29 and 14.

"We will get to Earth eventually, but not today." Dale announced.

"Good luck with the new plan." Walter said.

"We'll see you soon." Eli said.

"This is Dale Volker, signing off." Dale shut down the Stargate. They just stood there and kept staring at the landscape through the Stargate ring even though at nighttime, it wasn't much more than blackness and a starry night sky.

"I can't just go to Earth now." Eli said. "It would be like leaving Disneyland before lunchtime."

"We're never going to have experiences like what we've had on Destiny and Voyager." Lisa realised.

"I see what you mean." Dale agreed. "On Earth we were just living day by day. It wasn't until Destiny that we were actually living." They turned around and walked back down the ramp to Tuvok, Joe and Marla.

"I kind of see what you're getting at." Joe mentioned. "We've had a lot of adventures on Voyager and I do see it as home now."

"Plus, we haven't even seen your 24th century Earth yet." Eli pointed out.

"I believe it's time to turn around and head back to Voyager." Dale realised.

* * *

Put yourself in the shoes of Dale, Eli or Lisa. If you had the chance to go home, but it might be a one way trip, would you go or would you have more adventures on Destiny and Voyager and a strong possibility of seeing 24th century Earth in the Star Trek universe first?

Next chapter, the Destiny crew find out what a Stargate 2.0 DHD can do, and the Destiny crewmembers on Voyager have some fun on the holodeck. Believe me, you do not want to miss this chapter.


	17. Fun on the Holodeck

Warning: This second part of this chapter is too funny. I dare you to try to read it without laughing out loud at least once.

* * *

**Chapter 17 – Fun on the Holodeck**

**Star Trek Universe – Milky Way Galaxy – Destiny - Shuttlebay**

After Tom Paris had managed to extract the DHD out of the ground using the phaser and tractor beam, they saw a tractor enter the paddock they were in being driven by a humanoid native of the planet. Instead of explaining themselves, they had decided to leave with great haste. Paris used the tractor beam to snag both the DHD and Stargate and hauled it up to Destiny. Half of the away team on the planet took a ride back in the Delta Flyer. The other half were beamed back. They decided since the Delta Flyer was inside the shuttlebay after delivering the Stargate and DHD, that they may as well park it there as well. The shuttlebay was slightly larger than the one on Voyager and it fit easily.

Back in the shuttlebay, several crewmembers were finishing up cleaning the Stargate, ramp and DHD of the dirt they had accumulated while being underground for almost a million years. The Stargate 2.0 stood upright near a wall. On the other side of the shuttlebay was where a dozen Stargate 1.0 models were stored. The DHD stood next to the Stargate 2.0. Several people were standing in front of it, admiring it.

"Hey, that Stargate is slightly bigger than all those Stargates." Chloe Armstrong noticed, comparing the Stargate 2.0 to the dozen Stargate 1.0s stored on the other side of the shuttlebay.

"It is." Morrison confirmed. "And the Stargate 3.0 in Atlantis is slightly bigger than the Stargate 2.0"

"Now that this Stargate has superseded Destiny's own Stargate, does that mean we'll be using this one for now on?" Chloe asked.

"That remains to be seen." Nicholas Rush replied. "There is a way to make Destiny's Stargate the dominant Stargate. We just need to find a way to connect that DHD to it." Nicolas was pointing to the large DHD standing next to the Stargate. "First, it would be a good idea to see if this Stargate works first. Right now would be a good time as any." Nicholas looked to Everett.

"Go ahead." Everett replied.

"Dial the next Stargate on our path." Nicholas told Morrison. Morrison pressed the large buttons on the large DHD that came with the Stargate 2.0. Within a moment the wormhole had activated, and the event horizon was shimmering within the Stargate. Nicholas grabbed a radio transmitter and turned it on. They could hear it beeping on the DHD tablet that Voyager had replicated. Nicholas threw the transmitter into the centre of the Stargate. They waited. The beeping did not start up again after 1.6 seconds. Nicholas grabbed another transmitter and turned it on. They heard it beeping again. Nicholas walked halfway up the ramp. He then threw the radio transmitter into the very top of the wormhole. They waited.

After 1.6 seconds the beeping started up again. It beeped for about five seconds before the beeping stopped.

"Yes!" Nicholas shouted.

"What does that mean?" Everett asked.

"My hunch is correct." Nicholas explained. "This Stargate is also buried. The reason why the first transmitter failed to transmit a beeping signal was just the same as what happened a week ago."

Morrison said, "The lava prevented it from forming." He was referring to the soil being superheated into lava by the kawoosh caused by the activating of the Stargate.

"Correct." Nicholas said. "The second transmitter did start beeping again, at least a for a few seconds. This was because some of the lava had seeped into the event horizon. This caused a gap between the top of the lava and the soil above it. The transmitter was thrown into this gap. Guess why the transmitter failed after a few seconds."

"Because it fell into the lava and was incinerated." Chloe answered.

"Correct." Nicholas said. "Now let's test the other 10 Stargates we're picking up."

Ten minutes later, they had repeated the procedure ten times.

"The results are conclusive, all the Stargates in this galaxy beside the ones in this room are buried." Finalized Nicholas Rush. The results were identical with all the Stargates.

"That is quite a mystery." Everett announced.

"It most certainly is." Nicholas agreed.

"Do you have any idea why they're all buried?" Everett asked.

"I do have a hunch, but a hunch is all I have at the moment." Nicholas replied.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Chloe asked.

"Any explanation I give now would be just a guess which could very well be wrong. I prefer to have more facts before I give my reasoning for what I think has happened."

"Okay then." Everett gave up. "You lot find a way to connect this DHD to Destiny's Stargate so we can start using that one. Do you think you can do that?"

"We've read the notes on how they managed to change which gate is active on the Midway Station between Earth and Atlantis." Morrison said. "We'll figure it out."

"Good." Everett said.

"Wait. There is one thing." Adam Brody interrupted. "We've discovered another function of the repair bay. I want to test it out."

"What other function?" Everett asked.

"We just discovered that as well as repairing mechanical items, it can replicate them as well." Adam answered.

"Really?" Everett asked. "You mean like copy things?"

"Yes. We've only copied a light bulb so far, but we want to see if we can replicate this DHD here." Adam suggested, pointing at the large DHD they brought up from the planet below.

"Replicate a DHD? I'll be really impressed if it can pull that off." Everett remarked.

"There is a catch. I need similar materials that the replicator can use to make the DHD out of. It can't make it out of thin air." Adam explained. "I'm assuming Tom Paris or Harry Kim might be able to beam up some rocks from the planet below. I'll find them and ask them for help."

"Do it." Everett ordered. "I believe they're still in the Delta Flyer. I'll be on the bridge. Radio the bridge as soon as you have beamed the raw materials onboard so we can go back into FTL. I believe the four hours are already up." They had agreed earlier to go into FTL as soon as the four hours were up so they could spend most of the afternoon at FTL before they came out of it at 6pm to have dinner with the Voyager crew.

"We will." Adam said. He looked around. Harry, Tom and B'Elanna had just exited the Delta Flyer and were heading toward them. Adam congratulated them. "Great job in getting the Stargate and DHD here. There's something I need your help with." Adam told them about the replicator feature he discovered in the repair bay, his desire to replicate the DHD and that it needs raw materials to transmute into a DHD. "I believe the easiest way to get the raw materials is to beam up rocks from the planet below. Scan the DHD and use the Delta Flyer to scan the planet. Have it find types of rocks made out of similar materials. It doesn't have to be an exact match on the periodic table. I think parts of the DHD is not on the periodic table anyway. Just find something which is the closest match you can find. The nanobots work on a molecular level, it should be able to transform it anyway."

"We'll give it a go." Harry agreed. He scanned the DHD with his tricorder. Then Harry, Tom, B'Elanna, Adam, Nicholas, Chloe and Morrison walked back into the Delta Flyer.

Harry tapped buttons on the tricorder. "Okay, I've fed the scans of the DHD from the tricorder into Delta Flyer's computer. "Let's see what we can find."

"I'll scan the planet below." B'Elanna said. She had sat down at the same console that she used to scan for the Stargate a few hours earlier. After about a minute she had come up with a target lock. "The rocks I've found isn't an exact match, but it is pretty close."

"It will do." Adam Brody said.

"Beaming them up now." B'Elanna announced. Several rocks, some looking metallic, appeared on the transporter pad. "You should be able to use this to make a DHD out of."

"Looks like we're carrying them." Adam realised. They all reached down and picked up a few rocks each. Within a minute they were all in the repair bay. Adam gestured to the tabletop to put them on. Within another two minutes they had found a trolley and wheeled the DHD in. Several of them all got together and lifted it onto another tabletop. Adam then operated the console at one end of it.

"This replicator table will scan the DHD on it and copy it onto the table with the rocks on it." Adam explained. "It will rearrange the molecular structure of the rocks and hopefully turn it into a duplicate of the DHD."

"Make sure you're sure which table is doing the copying and which table is doing the pasting." Chloe pointed out. "You don't want to turn the DHD into a pile of rocks." Everybody laughed except Adam, who stared at Chloe. "I'll leave you to it." Chloe then wisely left the room.

Adam did double-check the instructions he had programmed into the Replicator control pad before beginning the procedure. He pressed a few buttons. "I've started it."

"How long do you think it will take?" Asked Morrison.

"Well it copied the lightbulb in five minutes. This DHD? Maybe an hour or two." Adam answered.

A lightbulb went off in Nicholas's head. "Have we gone to FTL yet?"

"No, we haven't." Morrison answered.

"I just thought of something else we should copy, and why stop with just one." Nicholas then radioed Everett on the bridge to tell him his plan. Everett thought it was a good idea but told him to hurry because he wants to take Destiny to FTL. Nicholas then turned to Tom, B'Elanna and Harry. "We need to beam up a lot more rocks."

**Star Trek Universe – Milky Way Galaxy - Voyager – Shuttlebay**

Eli Wallace, Tuvok, Marla Gilmore, Joe Carey, Dale Volker and Lisa Park had returned to Voyager in the two shuttlecraft. They were debriefed in the briefing room on Voyager over everything that had happened on their mission gating through the galaxies. Voyager had then travelled from Galaxy 40 in the Stargate Universe through the intergalactic wormhole to the Milky Way galaxy in the Star Trek universe.

At 6:00pm, the Stargate had activated as Destiny and Voyager updated each other on their status. Colonel Everett Young had also said over the radio that when the crewmembers come through for dinner in forty-five minutes, that they will also bring through two large gifts for Voyager. So, at 6:45pm, Captain Janeway, Chakotay, Tuvok, Joe, Eli, Dale and Lisa were waiting when the Stargate activated. First came Everett Young and Nicolas Rush. Then they turned back to the Stargate as Everett radioed to send the first gift through. They then saw what some of them recognised as a large DHD for a Stargate 2.0 come through the Stargate. It was on a trolley. As the trolley came through it was horizontal. When enough of the ramp came through, the forward end suddenly came down on the downward sloping ramp. Everett and Rush were ready for that, and they both grabbed the DHD to prevent it from tipping over onto the ramp. They led the DHD and trolley safely down the ramp and out of the way.

Everett radioed to Destiny. "Send the second gift through now." Everybody looked at the Stargate. Everett and Rush were ready as a second trolley came through. As before, when the trolley came down on the ramp, Everett and Rush were ready to catch the object on it. Everybody recognised it.

It was a fusion reactor. It looked just like the one Seven had created in her cargo bay.

Everybody looked shocked as they realised the implications. Janeway spoke first. "How can you possibly open a wormhole all the way here without the fusion reactor? Destiny is over 3,000 light years away now."

"The fusion reactor you gave us is currently connected to the Stargate." Everett answered as more crewmembers came walking through the Stargate.

"You…replicated it?" Janeway asked.

"Affirmative." Everett answered.

"I thought Destiny didn't have any replicators." Chakotay remarked.

"Neither did we." Rush answered. "But we found out the repair bay we discovered a week ago has an extra function besides just repairing machinery."

"It can also replicate them." Janeway figured out. "Now that will definitely come in handy."

"Don't we know it." Everett agreed. "The DHD is for the Stargate. We managed to connect the other one to our Stargate this afternoon. We'll explain what it can do at dinner."

"Yes, we will." Janeway agreed. "Now that our galaxy hopping crew are also back, it looks like we both have some stories to tell. We can connect the DHD to the Stargate after dinner. Let's head for the officer's mess now. Tonight, we have a 3-course meal!"

"I can hardly wait." Everett rejoiced. Everybody started heading for the turbolift. Nicholas caught up to Eli.

"Did you get the ages of all the 2.0 Stargates you passed through?" Nicholas asked.

"Yes, we did. Here it is." Eli pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, unfolded it, and handed it to Nicholas.

"Now this is interesting." Nicholas remarked while looking at the numbers.

**Voyager – Officer's Mess**

There were laughs, jokes, and lots of food and alcohol going around as they feasted. Janeway had organised it so everyone who had been directly involved in the latest missions were all seated at the main table. This meant Tuvok, Eli, Marla, Joe, Dale and Lisa were seated on one side of the table. Adam, Nicholas, Harry, B'Elanna, Tom and Chloe were seated on the other side. Janeway was seated at the head of the table between the two rows and Everett was seated at the other end. Nicholas still had the paper out in front of him while he was eating dinner. The crew who went galaxy hopping told the others about their mission. The crew who retrieved the first Stargate 2.0 off the planet explained their adventures. Then they explained what they did after they managed to replicate the DHD and the fusion reactor.

"So, you connected the DHD to Destiny's Stargate and it increased the range. By how much?" Janeway asked.

"It increased the range from about 300 light years to 35,000 light years." Everett answered. "Roughly half of what the fusion reactor can do. Apparently, they're backwards compatible with the Stargate 1.0. We believe the DHD we brought with us will do the same thing to your Stargate. At the very least it should cut down on the number of fusion reactors you'll need."

"I hope so." Janeway agreed. "Seven will be happy."

"Really happy." Everett confirmed. "We'll replicate more fusion reactors."

"Back to the galaxy hoppers." Janeway gestured to the group who went jumping from galaxy to galaxy through the Stargates with the two shuttlecraft. "You lot made it to galaxy 12. You actually managed to open a wormhole to Earth. You had the chance to go home. Why didn't any of you take it?"

"If we go home now, the adventures will be over." Dale answered.

"There's a possibility they'll never let us travel through the Stargate again." Eli added.

"I wanted so much to go home myself." Lisa explained. "But now that the opportunity was there, it felt like all the fun would be over and I'd have to live in the real world again."

"I can actually see things from your point of view." Janeway pointed out. "If I never joined Starfleet, I believe I would be working in a 9 to 5 job right now. That doesn't quite compare to being on a starship. With the crime rate so low on Earth right now, I admit it can get mundane at times there. One of the reasons I joined Starfleet was I knew we'd have adventures now and then on a Starship."

Dale pitched in. "From what I've heard during these previous dinners here, it's usually only the ships called the Enterprise that has all the adventures. The Voyager crewmembers have told heaps of stories about the scrapes the Enterprise starships have gotten themselves into."

"You are half right." Chakotay told Dale. "All starships get into their own scrapes now and then. The Enterprises, with their mission of deep space exploration, just has the most adventures. There have only been two recent exceptions. The USS Defiant, because it's guarding a wormhole from one quadrant of the Milky Way galaxy to another quadrant. And Voyager itself. In Voyager's case it's because being in the Delta Quadrant, almost every race it comes across is a First Contact situation."

"What is it with that piece of paper, Nicholas?" Janeway asked Nicholas. "It's dinner time. You can work later."

"Just doing some calculating." Rush clarified. "I am enjoying dinner."

"Great. You got me intrigued now. What is so important with that paper?" Janeway asked.

"This will take some explaining." Nicholas pointed out.

"I'm all ears. It looks like you've figured something out." Janeway stated.

"You know where it is, don't you?" Eli asked.

"Kind of." Nicholas answered.

"Don't keep us in suspense." Janeway said.

"Well, put it this way. We have all been so invested, me included, about seeing what's in front of Destiny. What Destiny has been after, that it never occurred to anyone to see what was coming up behind us."

"Continue. Pease." Janeway insisted.

"This paper has the ages of all the 2.0 Stargates that the galaxy hopping team has passed through. Their ages differ wildly by millions of years. The Stargate 2.0 in galaxy 29 is 785,400 years old. The Stargate in galaxy 27 is 3,116,200 years old. The Stargate in galaxy 25 is 6,331,900 years old. Each Stargate 2.0 they came across were between two to three million years older than the previous one. By comparing their ages, I've been able to work out roughly where the 'object of my affection' is."

"What and where is this 'object of your affection'?" Asked Janeway.

Nicholas and Eli looked at each other for a couple of seconds, then they looked back at Janeway. Nicholas answered her. "There is a Seeder ship out there. This one constructs Stargates of the 2.0 variety and it is currently between galaxy 29 and galaxy 30."

Everybody looked at each other wide-eyed. They didn't say anything.

"Time for dessert!" Neelix called out. "Just like always, everyone is entitled to one serving of dessert of your choice. Please line up by the replicator."

"We'll continue this after dessert." Janeway said to Nicholas. They all got up, lined up at the replicator and started replicating their favourite dessert. About ten minutes later they had resumed their conversation.

"So why do you think there's a seeder ship between those two galaxies?" Janeway asked.

"The reasoning is very simple. The Seeder 1.0 ships were sent out first. They travelled further and further away from Earth through the galaxies constructing and depositing Stargates on every suitable planet that is habitable or could be habitable in the future. Destiny was sent out later chasing the origin of the signal hidden in the background radiation in the universe. It followed the course of the Seeder 1.0 ships. Next the Seeder 2.0 ships were sent out. They replaced every Stargate 1.0 they found with an improved Stargate 2.0. Considering how long ago the Seeder 2.0 ships were sent out, they should have overtaken the Destiny and replaced the Stargates by now. For some reason, at least one of them is seriously behind schedule. It's taking one of them a million years to upgrade each galaxy."

"Any idea why it's so slow?" Janeway asked.

"I can only guess. I could be wrong, but I believe the FTL has failed. It's no longer able to repair itself. It's still following its program. So it continues on without FTL. It's travelling through space at 99% the speed of light. Considering the first Stargate 2.0 Eli and company found in Galaxy 29 is less than a million years old, the seeder ship has finished with galaxy 29 and is currently en route to galaxy 30."

"Hang on." Chloe interrupted. "Isn't there a really big gap between galaxy 29 and 30?"

"Yes, there most certainly is." Nicholas confirmed. "I have managed to narrow down the area of space that the seeder ship is currently drifting through to be as large as a galaxy."

"Gee, that helps." Harry remarked.

"I have a hunch on how to find it, but I have no idea if it will work." Nicholas surmised.

Later on, as everyone was leaving the Officer's Mess, Matthew Scott and Ronald Greer walked up beside Eli when he was in a corridor.

"Hey Eli." Ronald greeted Eli. "Did you have fun going all the way to galaxy 12 and back?"

"It had its moments." Eli answered.

"Great." Matthew said. "You know that thing we were talking about? We're going to do it tonight. Us, Darren and the other soldiers. We'll all be at your quarters tonight 10pm. Be ready."

"Tonight it is then." Eli responded.

**Voyager – Eli's Quarters – 10pm**

The door chimed.

"Come in." Eli called out. The door opened. Matthew Scott, Ronald Greer, Darren Becker and three other soldiers from Destiny walked in. The last soldier who walked in closed the door behind him.

"This is it. Tonight's the night." Ronald announced.

"It's happy time!" Matthew said.

"In case you haven't figured it out yet, this is the real reason we all chose to be on Voyager." Darren revealed.

"You know, this isn't really the smartest idea you've come up with." Eli remarked.

"No it's not. But it is the best." Ronald responded.

"Hell yeah!" Darren agreed.

"You do know if we get caught, we will be in so much trouble." Eli pointed out.

"Worrywart." Ronald said. "It's impossible for me to turn back now. Oh, yes. We're doing it."

"Risk is a part of life." Darren said.

"There is one problem. I checked just before you came in. Listen to this." Eli said. He then asked the computer. "Computer, are there any available holodecks?"

"Negative. All four holodecks are currently in use." The female computer voice answered.

"Yeah. They're always busy. But we've already thought of that." Matthew said. "Ask the computer which holodeck has the least number of people in it."

Eli did so. The computer answered. "Holodeck four has two crewmembers in it. Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres." This jogged Eli's memory of what he overheard during dinner. Although Tom and B'Elanna were currently assigned to Destiny, they had asked for one day on Voyager to use the holodeck. The advantages of having a Stargate on both Destiny and Voyager providing easy travel back and forth. Harry Kim was still on Destiny in case they needed to use the Delta Flyer.

Matthew then explained to Eli his plan on how to get around the problem of all the holodecks being occupied.

"That could work." Eli figured.

"Let's do it." Darren said eagerly.

"I believe this is the boldest thing I've ever done." Eli laughed.

"Then you have to get out more." Ronald said.

All six soldiers and Eli walked out of his quarters and made their way to holodeck four. When they arrived, they looked around, but the corridor was empty.

"Give my idea a go." Matthew reminded Eli. "The environment is usually a lot larger than what the size of the holodeck is. See if you can move where the holodeck door will appear so Tom and B'Elanna won't see it. We'll sneak in. We'll share the same holodeck program."

"I'm trying to do that right now." Eli responded. Eli was pressing buttons on the console beside the door to the holodeck. "I really hope this works. Keep quiet so they won't hear us." He pressed a few more buttons and the holodeck door opened. Eli and the soldiers quickly backed out of the way. Eli carefully peeked his head around the doorway on one side and Matthew did on the other side.

"I can't see them." Matthew said quietly.

"Neither can I." Eli confirmed quietly. "It worked. We're in another part of the environment. They all slowly walked in and found themselves on a beach. The sun was low in the sky signifying a sunset.

"Pretty!" Came a female voice from behind them. They all looked around and saw Lisa Park standing at the entrance to the holodeck. "What's going on here, guys? You having fun without me?" They all looked at Lisa like deers caught in headlights. After a few seconds Matthew grabbed Lisa and pulled her into the holodeck. "What are you lot up to?"

"We are…umm…I mean…" Matthew struggled to think of something to say.

"Hang on! You guys are just here to have…" Lisa started.

Ronald interrupted. "We're just minding our own business. And keep your voice down. Tom Paris and B'Elanna are also in here and they don't know we're here."

Lisa laughed. "You snuck into someone else's holodeck program? You got to be kidding me."

"Just don't dob us in and we won't dob you in for hacking Voyager and making yourself a Lieutenant." Matthew pointed out.

"Whatever." Lisa agreed.

"It looks like Tom and B'Elanna are fifty metres to the right." Eli advised them. They all looked to the right, but palm trees blocked the view in that direction. "Which means we'll go that way." Eli pointed to the left. They all started walking left along the sandy beach, including Lisa. As they walked, they looked around. On the left, palm trees and bushes dotted the tops of sandy hills. On the right, waves about one metre high came down on foaming ocean water. Seagulls were flying around. With the sun fairly low on the horizon, the sky was tinged with yellow and red.

"Awesome view." Darren admitted.

"Whoever created this program is a true artist." Ronald agreed. He accentuated the word 'artist'.

It wasn't just the view. They could smell the sand and the ocean. The sea breeze completed the experience. It also brought back memories of previous times when they were on a real beach.

"Wow." Matthew exclaimed.

"You're not kidding." Lisa agreed.

After they had walked fifty metres and walked around a thick collection of bushes and palm trees, Matthew decided. "This should be far enough. We won't have to worry about Tom and B'Elanna bumping into us."

"I don't want to see what happens next." Lisa said. "I'll just continue walking and admire the sunset. I'm outta' here boys." Lisa left the group and walked further along the beach, heading closer to the water.

"Okay then. What happens next?" Matthew asked Eli.

"Well, here goes." Eli announced. "Computer, create seven really good-looking woman, 21 years old, with supermodel curvy figures in tiny string bikinis." Seven woman matching Eli's description then appeared out of thin air standing in front of them."

"Whoa!" Ronald exclaimed. They all noticed that their string bikinis were about three sizes too small for them. Lisa turned around, laughed when she saw the girls in bikinis, then turned around and continued walking toward the water. The girls in bikinis just stood there, not saying anything.

"Please specify behavioural parameters." The female computer voice announced. The soldiers wondered how to respond to that.

"Relax. I've got this. I prepared this earlier." Eli said. "Computer, access program 'Supermodel' that I designed in my quarters one hour ago and install them in these girls."

"Program 'Supermodel' has been installed in the female characters." The computer announced. The females suddenly started moving.

"Hello." One of the young women said.

"Is that it? Are they ready?" Ronald asked.

"I believe so. I've kept them simple and happy. They should be game for anything." Eli answered.

"Let's find out." Matthew pondered. He turned to one of the girls. "Hello. What is your name?"

"I'm bikini girl number one." She answered.

"Ahem, shouldn't we have some privacy here?" Darren realised.

"You're right. Let's see." Eli responded. He looked around. They were standing near the edge of the beach. Sand was on one side. Grass was on the other. The grass stretched away into the distance. "Let's see. I know. Computer, make all the grass two metres tall." They all watched as all the grass all along the edge of the beach grew to two metres tall in just a few seconds. They now had a wall of grass in front of them.

"There's your privacy." Eli said. "The grass stretches away a fair bit. Heaps of room for all of you to grab your own private spot."

"Okay. Here goes nothing." Matthew said. "Hey, bikini girl number one. Let's go for a walk into the long grass, okay?" Matthew held out a hand to bikini girl number one.

"Okey dokey." She replied. She took his hand and together they walked and approached the long grass. Matthew pushed some of the grass out of the way and they walked into it. The grass moved back into place behind them, hiding them from view.

"My turn. Are you bikini girl number two?" Darren asked a girl.

"Yeah." Bikini girl number two replied.

"Want to walk into this tall grass here?" Darren asked her.

Bikini girl giggled, ran into the long grass and said. "Catch me if you can!" She disappeared into the long grass, closely followed by Darren. Three more soldiers walked into the long grass with bikini girls three, four and five. Ronald and Eli were left with two girls.

"This might be too much for you to handle so you might want to stay out here." Ronald Greer said to Eli. "We're just all playing chasings in there."

"Oh, yeah. Sure." Eli replied sarcastically.

"Let's walk with me into the grass." Ronald said to bikini girl number six. He held out a hand to her. She took it. Together they walked into the long grass. Right before they disappeared from sight, Ronald turned back to Eli and bikini girl number seven. "Computer, delete computer bikini girl number seven." Eli watched as she disappeared into thin air. Ronald snickered and continued into the long grass, disappearing from sight as the grass moved back into place behind him.

"That's Ronald for you." Eli said to no-one. "Computer, recreate bikini girl number seven." The girl materialised again in front of him.

"Hello." Bikini girl number seven said. "What's your name?"

"Eli."

"Are we going to go in there too and play?" She asked.

Eli thought about it for a few seconds. "Well, it's not like I'll ever get another chance. Let's go." She held out her hand and Eli took it. She started walking toward the long grass, followed by Eli. She walked into the long grass. Eli started to follow but then heard…

"Eli!" The voice called out to him. It was a male voice and it came from behind him. Eli turned around…and saw Tom and B'Elanna in the distance walking toward him! They had walked around some palm trees and bushes and had come into plain site of Eli. Eli gasped. He had let go of bikini girl number seven. He quickly pushed the grass back upright to hide her.

"Of course. Now they show up." Eli said softly to himself out of earshot. As they approached, Eli struggled to think of something to say. "Umm, hi…Tom!"

"Eli. What are you doing here?" Tom asked.

"I…uhh, got lost!" Eli answered. "Somehow I took a wrong turn and ended up in the holodeck. I've been trying to find my way out."

"Who was that with you?" B'Elanna asked.

"Who? Oh, that girl? Apparently, there are some holographic characters in this program. I bumped into one."

"I don't remember any characters in this beach program." Tom pondered.

"How did you find me?" Eli asked.

"How? B'Elanna and I were all cosied up to each other and suddenly the grass around us suddenly grew to two metres! Did you have something to do with that?"

"Oh, crap!" Eli hit the palm of his hand to his forehead. "I didn't think of that!"

Suddenly bikini girl number seven came walking back out of the long grass. In her tiny string bikini.

"Hey, Eli. Why aren't you playing with me?" She asked him. Eli looked at bikini girl number seven, then back at Tom and B'Elanna. Eli was at a loss for words.

"Eli, what's going on here?" B'Elanna asked him.

"Umm, err, I mean, you know…" Eli tried to think of something to say. They started hearing other sounds coming from the long grass. Giggling. Moaning.

"Who else is here?" B'Elanna asked.

"I don't see anybody." Eli quickly answered.

"Computer, remove grass." B'Elanna ordered.

"Nooo!" Eli shouted. It was too late. Suddenly all the long grass disappeared. Eli saw Tom and B'Elanna's jaws drop. Eli turned around to see what they saw and immediately regretted that decision. The guys freaked out when they realised they were now exposed. The bikini girls all saw Eli, Tom and B'Elanna. The girls all waved happily and said simultaneously,

"Hello!"

B'Elanna did something she thought she would never do. She screamed.

Eli, Tom and B'Elanna quickly all turned around to face away from them.

"Computer, replace grass!" Tom ordered. The tall grass immediately reappeared.

Eli said ashen faced. "I am never going to be able to get that sight out of my head for as long as I live."

Bikini girl number seven looked at Eli, Tom and B'Elanna, then looked at the long grass, wondering what was going on. She looked back at Eli, Tom and B'Elanna, then turned back to the long grass. She pointed to the people that she could hear in there and said. "Oooo, you boys are in trubboooll!"

* * *

I can hear you laughing from here. This story is currently rated K. In order to avoid an M rating, there will be no description for what actually happened in 'The Long Grass'. As for next chapter, Yes, they are in trouble.


	18. Aftermath

I wondered whether to tone down the part in the holodeck in the last chapter but then I realised if guys were trapped on a spaceship for five years and then they were introduced to a holodeck, they wouldn't have a hope in hell of resisting it. So it's actually a rather realistic look at what they would get up to. Besides, it was way too funny. So I left it as is.

Sorry it took so long to get this next chapter up. Real life keeps catching up to me and I've had to travel interstate and back.

* * *

**Chapter 18 – Aftermath**

**Star Trek Universe – Milky Way Galaxy - Voyager – Brig**

After their 'adventure', or as some would say, 'misadventure' in the holodeck, Eli Wallace, Matthew Scott, Ronald Greer, Darren Becker and the three other soldiers from Destiny crewmembers found themselves in the brig. Eli had explained to his crewmates that Tom and B'Elanna noticed the grass suddenly grow to two metres around them. That's how they discovered there weren't alone in the holodeck. Everyone else in the brig moaned. They also realised that Destiny had gone to FTL at 10pm last night and wouldn't come out of FTL until 6:00pm tonight. They're going to be spending all day in the brig. They didn't know what was worse, being in the brig, or having to answer to Colonel Young when he inevitably finds out. Some of them were glad to be in the brig. At least Eli was smart enough to ask for his own cell. Spending all that time there, someone was bound to blame Eli for getting them into that mess. Eli was surprised that several hours had gone by and no-one had screamed or even raised their voice at him. It was late at night and they all just went to sleep.

It was early morning when they started talking. They were all still lying down. Although Eli was in a separate holding cell, they were all still within earshot as he was in the adjoining cell.

"It was fate." Eli spoke first. "Fate caused this."

"How could fate cause this?" Matthew asked.

"Things were going too good." Eli answered. "Something had to go wrong. Let's count the good things. We're all doing a much better job of repairing Destiny. We can now easily repair or replicate things with the replicator table. The Voyager crew members on Destiny with their tricorders can easily scan things with their tricorders and tell us what they are. We've all been eating our favourite desserts using the replicators on Voyager. We actually have the ability to go to our Earth now, but we're all now holding off on that because we're on our way to see futuristic Star Trek Earth."

"So fate is teaching us a lesson." Ronald remarked. "Yeah, I believe that. I let myself get too happy over the last two weeks. I should have seen that coming seeing how bad my childhood was. I joined the military to escape from all that. When you think the military is a paradise by comparison, you realise just how bad your childhood was."

"My kid doesn't know I'm his father." Matthew revealed.

"Yeah, we always lose what we want the most." Eli said.

"What have you lost?" Ronald asked. "You haven't lost anything. I heard your mum's doing okay. And I thought you loved it on both Destiny and Voyager."

"I am loving it. Being a sci-fi nerd and trapped on a futuristic ship, it felt like I was on my favourite sci-fi TV show instead of just watching it on TV. And apart from my mum I wasn't missing anyone. I have no girlfriend, no wife, no kids. I thought I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. So of course, fate had to rear its ugly head and teach me a lesson. Fate gave me Ginn just so it could tear her away from me."

They were all lost in thought as they contemplated how wild their lives had become.

**Voyager – Shuttlebay**

Dale Volker, Lisa Park, Tuvok, Marla Gilmore, Seven and a few other Voyager engineers had figured out how to connect the large DHD to the Stargate 1.0. They had left the fusion reactors switched off. They were looking at the smaller tablet DHD in their hands to watch the available list of Stargates grow on its display.

"7, 8, 9 stargates." Dale announced. "That's it. There are 9 stargates within range of this Stargate 1.0 while it is connected to the DHD 2.0."

"I thought they said the range only increased to half the galaxy." Marla noticed. "They did this same test yesterday on Destiny. We should only be getting about 5 or 6."

"Except that we are a lot closer now to the centre of the galaxy, seeing that Voyager has managed to cover roughly half the journey across the galaxy." Dale explained. "The centre of the galaxy is roughly 10,000 light years from here. I've seen a map of where we are in the Milky Way galaxy."

"Volker is correct." Tuvok confirmed. "Destiny's Stargate is not showing up on this list which means it is still at FTL. Otherwise the list of available Stargates would be ten. That still leaves us one Stargate short. It must be near the edge of the galaxy if it is out of range now."

"Aren't we still one short?" Marla asked. "Wait, hang on. Destiny has a dozen Stargate 1.0 models and one Stargate 2.0 in its shuttlebay. That means there are now 24 Stargates in the Milky Way galaxy. But I had a DHD tablet last night. When FTL dropped out of FTL, the list of available Stargates went from ten to eleven. The night before that, it went from eleven to twelve."

"Yeah, I noticed that." Dale said. "I know why. Here's a clue. The word 'available'."

Marla thought for a bit before figuring it out. "The Stargates are too close together! Only the Stargate that supersedes the others will show up in the list!"

"Yay! Bingo!" Dale exclaimed. "Apparently they won't even show up as 'locked out' on the display. And the reason the list was eleven last night and twelve the night before is because they had picked up the Stargate 2.0 in that time."

"Let's continue." Tuvok brought them back on track. "Let's turn on the fusion reactors one by one and see how it affects the list of available Stargates."

Tuvok had modified the power setting on the fusion reactors so they could be powered on separately again. There were now 9 fusion reactors in the shuttlebay. Tuvok powered on the first fusion reactor. He raised it to 100 percent. He waited a minute for the DHD remotes to update its available list of Stargates.

"We have ten stargates in range." Dale announced. "It's picking up that Stargate at the edge of the Milky Way galaxy."

"But no Stargates in any nearby galaxies." Marla assumed.

"Let's turn on the next fusion reactor." Dale suggested.

Tuvok turned on the next fusion reactor. They waited one minute. They watched the DHD remotes in surprise as the list of available Stargates started to skyrocket.

"Umm, guys?" Dale called out. "It's picking up Stargates in a nearby galaxy. A lot of them."

"Yeah. That's what happened the last time we plugged fusion reactors into them." Marla pointed out.

"That's right but that was in the Stargate universe." Dale explained. "Now we are in the Milky Way galaxy in the Star Trek universe. We were surprised by the eleven we detected in this galaxy. The number of Stargates is still going up. I'm up to eleven thousand now. They're coming from two galaxies now. This second galaxy. I recognise the eighth symbol. It's the Pegasus galaxy. The other symbol. It came first. That has to be the Andromeda galaxy. Wait, if I'm picking up the Pegasus galaxy…" Dale started typing in co-ordinates. "Bingo! We have a match. I'm picking up the Stargate in Atlantis!"

"Don't dial it." Tuvok advised.

"Don't worry. I was just seeing if there is a match. There is. There is an Atlantis in the Pegasus galaxy. Or at least there is a Stargate in the same location where Atlantis is."

"That's incredible!" Lisa Park exclaimed.

"Sure is." Dale agreed then looked around. "I thought Eli was supposed to be here. He would love to see this. Where the hell is he? Has anyone seen him?"

"Umm." Lisa started but got stuck for words.

"Eli has been otherwise engaged. He will not be able to participate in this morning's activities." Announced Tuvok.

"By what?" Dale asked.

"It is not privy for me to say. Janeway's orders." Tuvok answerd.

"Not privy? Lisa, do you know anything about this?" Dale asked.

"I haven't got a clue." Lisa replied a little too quickly. Dale looked at Lisa. Her eyes were wide and she was apprehensive. She was hiding something.

"Lisa, what's going on?" Dale asked.

"I can't say." Lisa responded. Dale looked closely at her. He thought she was scared, but now it looked more like she was trying not to laugh.

Dale looked around at everyone. "Where's Matthew, Ronald and Darren?"

"They have been otherwise engaged as well." Tuvok answered.

"Okay then." Dale realised. "We'll continue with this test for now. Let's start up fusion reactor number three."

**Voyager – Captain's Ready Room**

At 6:00pm when Destiny had dropped out of FTL, activated its Stargate and contacted Voyager, Colonel Everett Young was notified that his presence was requested on Voyager as soon as possible. When he arrived, he was directed to the Captain's Ready Room. While he was in the ascending turbolift, he had wondered what happened. He wasn't told over communications and the people in Voyager's shuttlebay didn't know either. From what he could tell, it sounded like someone was in trouble. It couldn't be Rush. He was on Destiny and apart from a few dinners, he hasn't even been to Voyager for about a week. Come to think of it, Rush had been rather well behaved lately. Real good considering he was punched out by Samantha Carter last week. Had Rush done something previously that people on Voyager had only just found out about?

While they were waiting for Everett to arrive, Janeway and Chakotay were discussing how exactly to tell Everett. They had even flipped a coin to decide who was going to tell him. Janeway lost and had to tell him.

Chakotay offered. "I bet you a replicator ration that Everett bursts out laughing when you tell him."

"You're on. I haven't seen him laugh yet." Janeway agreed.

"He'll laugh."

"No, he won't." The door chimed. "Come in."

Everett entered. "What has Rush done now?"

"Rush?" Janeway asked. "No, not Rush. You better sit down for this."

Outside on the bridge, the relief crew manning the stations for the evening shift were wondering how Everett would react. About two minutes after he had entered, they all heard hysterical laughter. Janeway had lost the bet.

**Voyager – Briefing Room – 6:30pm**

Nicolas Rush, Dale Volker, Adam Brody, Lisa Park, Morrison, Camille, Marla Gilmore, Seven and Tuvok were waiting in the briefing room. Kathryn, Chakotay and Everett entered.

"Good evening people." Colonel Everett Young greeted them. "I believe you tested the Stargate connected to the replicated DHD. Does someone want to fill us in on how it went?"

"The test went rather well." Dale answered. "The DHD increased the range of the Stargate 1.0 from 300 light years to about 35,000 light years."

Everett asked. "Do you have any idea why it only increased the range to only half the width of the galaxy instead of the whole galaxy like the Stargate 2.0?"

Dale replied. "We can only assume that the DHD 2.0 can only do half the job and a Stargate 2.0 is required to finish extending the range to the whole galaxy."

"Fair enough." Everett surmised. "What about when you connected the fusion reactors to it?"

"That's where it got interesting." Dale continued. "One fusion reactor increased the range to the whole galaxy. The second reactor increased the range to pick up Stargates in both the Andromeda and Pegasus galaxies."

"Wait, hang on." Everett interrupted. "We're still in the Star Trek universe. There are Stargates in those galaxies?"

"Over 35,000 in the Andromeda galaxy." Marla answered.

"And over 20,000 in the Pegasus galaxy." Lisa added.

"Each time we turned on another fusion reactor, we picked up more galaxies full of Stargates." Dale continued. "Every galaxy that we could detect besides the Milky Way galaxy itself, has tens of thousands of stargates in them."

"You're kidding!" Everett exclaimed. "That means that it's the Milky Way galaxy which is the odd one out."

"It seems that way." Janeway agreed.

Everett assumed. "That would also mean that the Milky Way was once full of Stargates too, but they have since disappeared."

"Indeed." Tuvok agreed.

"So, the question now is, what happened to all the Stargates?" Everett asked.

"That at the moment is anybody's guess." Nicolas responded. "I am looking into that, but we need to find a lot more clues before anyone can give any reasonable explanation. All I can say with any certainty is it happened a very long time ago."

"Let's get back to the DHD 2.0." Janeway got them back on track. "How many fusion reactors will be required on Voyager with the DHD attached to reach from galaxy 40 to 29?"

"We estimate that to be around eleven." Tuvok answered.

"With both Seven manufacturing the fusion reactors and us replicating them, we should have enough reactors to open a gateway to Earth, our Earth, in about two weeks." Everett summarized.

"Excellent." Janeway said. "How are repairs going on Destiny?"

"It's going way better now that we've got our own replicator repairing and replicating equipment." Everett answered. "We're finally replacing all the kinos we've lost over the years and we're about to open a new section of Destiny."

"Glad to hear it." Janeway admitted. "Now back to the…incident…in the holodeck." Janeway saw Everett tense up and take a breath. When Janeway had told him about the incident back in her Ready Room, Everett had told them to wait until he managed to stop laughing before they all made their way to the Briefing Room. Everett wanted to make sure he could have a grim expression on his face before he faced the others. He also advised Janeway to take out a few details before she explained what happened, particularly so it doesn't become the laughingstock of the trip. Janeway started. "It appears that a few members of Destiny had taken it upon themselves to make an unscheduled visit of the holodeck. I won't explain exactly what happened, but they managed to sneak into a holodeck that was already running. They thought they could get up to mischief, but they were discovered by the Voyager crewmembers who were already there." Janeway looked around. They were all captivated.

Dale Volker looked around. Lisa Park looked like she was wearing a really good poker face. How much more did she know?

Everett Young continued with the explanation. "Those guilty of the incident are currently in the brig. They will soon be sent back to Destiny. This incident is to remain top secret and not to be discussed with anyone. You are also not to discuss this when you talk to people on Earth using the communication stones."

"I'm pretty sure we can keep this under wraps." Janeway finished. "Now we believe it will be another three weeks before Destiny arrives at the next Stargate. I'm confident we can all behave ourselves. Anything else before we go to dinner?"

"A few things." Everett answered. "First, now is a good time to change our roster of crewmembers. Lisa Parker and Dale Volker are also being sent back to Destiny. We'll let some other people from Destiny check out Voyager.

"Second, Destiny is low on fuel. We're inviting as many people as we can from Voyager onto Destiny tomorrow. We want you to see how Destiny refuels. I assure you, you will not be disappointed."

"Sounds interesting." Chakotay piped up.

"Sure does. Count us in. We'll announce it at dinner." Janeway said.

"Third." Everett continued. "Our cooks are getting better at making dinner and we've figured out how to use almost everything in Destiny's kitchen. We no longer need to keep coming out of FTL every night at 6pm. It's now time we skip a few days here and there for Destiny to cover more ground."

"Sounds good." Janeway confirmed. "We'll do that."

"The third thing." Everett continued. "I've found a way to make this incident up to you. Apart from replicating fusion reactors, we've mainly been copying and repairing machines from Destiny. I believe there are a few things from Voyager you haven't thought of copying yet."

"Let's hear it." Janeway invited. Everett filled her in.

Later, when Lisa and Dale were walking along a corridor on their way to the Mess Hall for dinner, Dale asked Lisa what had happened in the holodeck.

"I can't say. Top secret. I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you." Lisa replied.

"Yeah. Well, my mind is going onto overdrive. I can pretty much imagine what happened." Dale said.

"Actually, I'm impressed you weren't there with them." Lisa said amazed.

"Well, put it this way. I'm glad I didn't know about it." Dale admitted.

Lisa laughed. "C'mon! I can't believe you said that!" They continued laughing on their way to the mess hall.

**Voyager – Brig**

After dinner, Colonel Everett Young had decided to see the detainees in the brig. The detainees were dreading this. As soon as he had walked in the door, they all stood up and snapped to attention. Although Eli was a civilian contractor and not a soldier, he decided to follow suit. They had all assumed that the Colonel would be furious. Their assumptions were correct. After two minutes of shouting at them, he decided to start questioning them.

"So who was behind this?" Everett asked. The soldiers all looked at each other.

"It was my idea." Matthew Scott answered.

"No, it was my idea." Ronald Greer answered.

"I made it possible. It's my fault." Eli intervened.

"We forced you. You didn't have a choice." Ronald said.

"I could have held out longer. It's my fault." Eli insisted.

"You warned us we could have gotten caught. We didn't listen. It's our fault." Matthew said.

"I gave in too easily." Eli insisted.

"Yeah, right." Ronald said.

"Looks like it's all your fault." Everett said, indicating all of them. "One thing, your time on Voyager is over. You're all going back to Destiny tonight. That is, to the brig on Destiny. You'll be spending another day there for you to think about what you've done. One last thing, we're covering this incident up. We've classed it as top secret. If this gets out, it will be the main thing everyone will be talking about if the Stargate program ever goes public. We won't even be telling Stargate Command about this. This event never happened, understood?"

"Yes, sir!" All the soldiers responded.

"Yes, sir!" Eli quickly responded, before the soldiers finished shouting it.

"Good! I'll be back soon to let you out. You'll go to your quarters to get your things and then we're all going back to Voyager." Everett turned around and left the brig. As he turned the corner, he saw Janeway in the corridor. He motioned for her to move out of earshot of the detainees. After they'd turned another corner, Everett spoke. "They surprised me."

"How so?" Janeway asked.

"They all accepted responsibility for what happened. They're taking the blame for it." Everett answered.

"They weren't always like that?" Janeway asked.

"Not really. When they first met five years ago, things were different. If this incident had happened back then, they all would have sidestepped the issue, made up excuses. None of them did that."

"They're all friends now." Janeway realised.

"Yes, they are." Everett also realised.

"The same thing happened on Voyager." Janeway admitted. "Over the years we all got to know each other. We were all calling each other by our ranks when we first started out. But now, we're all on a first name basis. Tuvok and Vorik are the only officers who keep it professional. But with the others, although most officers still call me Captain, I can't remember the last time anyone beside the Vulcans ever called anyone by their rank. Not even Seven."

"So, it's become like one large extended family on both our ships." Everett realised. "Yeah, you're right. I know personal details about some of my crewmembers I wish I didn't know."

"Same here." Janeway admitted. "This refuelling thing that Destiny can do better be good."

"It will. You might want to have an officer bring along a holocamera. It could make for an interesting program to have in the holodeck."

"We will." Janeway responded.

"Now let's go get those dopes out of the brig." Everett said.

**Star Trek Universe - Destiny – The Next Day**

Several dozen crewmembers, almost half the crew on Voyager, had accepted the invite to Destiny via the Stargate. Most of them had made their way to the Observation Deck. As Janeway had ordered, one of the crewmembers brought along a holocamera. As the Observation Deck wasn't quite big enough for everyone, some of them had made their way to a couple of corridors on the sides of the ship which had rather long side windows alongside them giving a generous view to the sightseers. They could see the star getting larger as they approached it.

In the Repair Bay, several people were waiting to see if the latest experiment would work. The console display on the replicator table beeped, signifying it had completed its task.

"Looks like it did it." Adam Brody stated.

"Before there was one, now there are two." Tom Paris announced.

"The Doctor will love this." B'Elanna said.

They all looked at the two replicator tables. Sitting on each of them was the Doctor's mobile emitter.

"The Doctor finally has a backup mobile emitter." Tom announced. "He's going to think it's Christmas!"

"Our own replicators can't even copy the mobile emitter. It's too advanced." B'Elanna said amazed.

"Destiny continues to surprise." Tom admitted. For safety reasons they made sure the Doctor was left in sickbay on Voyager, not in the mobile emitter. They didn't want to risk the Doctor somehow being damaged or destroyed if the replicator malfunctioned.

"Mission successful." Adam turned to an engineer. "Bring in the repair bot."

"Oh, crap, the time." Tom suddenly said. "Destiny is about to refuel. We'll be in the observation lounge watching Destiny refuel." Tom and B'Elanna hurriedly left the repair bay.

"You're going to love it." Adam said to them as he watched them leave. Right after they left, Dale Volker walked in.

"Hey Adam!" Dale greeted.

"Hey! How was Voyager?"

"Great! It had its moments this time." Dale looked down at the replicator bench. "What is that?"

"Oh great. They forgot it." Adam called out to Tom and B'Elanna. "Tom! B'Elanna! You forgot the mobile emitters!"

"Too late." Said the engineer who was wheeling in the repair bot on a trolley. "They've already disappeared in the elevator."

"They'll be back." Adam muttered.

"Is that the mobile emitter that the holographic doctor has on Voyager?" Dale asked.

"That's the one. Or, should I say, that's the two." Adam answered.

Dale was lost in thought for a moment, before asking. "Adam. Can you do me a really big favour?"

"Depends what it is."

"Oh, believe me, you're going to love this."

On the top deck, Kathryn Janeway had joined Everett Young on the bridge.

"You're about to find out what Destiny can really do." Everett told her. "We've decided to leave Destiny on automatic. We'll let it refuel itself. We'll watch."

"This has certainly piqued my interest." Janeway admitted. "I can't wait to see what will happen."

"You're certainly going to love putting this in your report." Everett said.

"All I see is a great big star in front of us." Janeway pointed out. The star was now filling up most of the forward view.

"That is correct." Everett confirmed. "And it's going to keep getting bigger."

On the Observation Deck, dozens of people were watching the star as it filled the forward view.

"I fail to see why I should witness this." Seven stated.

"C'mon Seven." Harry Kim said. "I believe this is one of those situations where even you should be impressed. Aren't you impressed, Tuvok?"

Tuvok raised an eyebrow before responding. "Intriguing."

"I guess that's all we're going to get out of you." Tom Paris said, who had just arrived on the Observation Deck with B'Elanna. "Where's your adventurous spirit?"

"I am enjoying this. I do not need to express it like you do." Tuvok answered.

"Are you recording this, Harry?" Tom asked.

"Certainly am." Harry replied. He was holding the holocamera out in front of him.

They continued watching as Destiny got closer and closer to the star. Destiny started raising the nose as it got closer, so it was flying just above the fiery surface. Then it lowered its altitude and it disappeared into the fiery flames of the sun.

"Are we actually in the sun?" Janeway asked amazed on the bridge. She was looking out of the forward viewscreen, which was now filled with bright waves of colours as it flew through the searing fusion of the chromosphere, the top layer of the sun. The bridge was filled with a kaleidoscope of bright colours of white, yellow, orange and red.

"You better believe it." Everett replied. "This is how Destiny refuels. It is solar powered."

"Incredible!" Janeway exclaimed.

"Destiny was launched a really long time ago." Everett continued. "Back then, there was no dilithium and no ZPMs. But there's an awful lot of stars out there."

"They sure don't make them like they used to." Janeway remarked.

Several decks below, Harry and his friends looked on wide-eyed in the observation deck.

"Now this is one way to refuel." Harry said in amazement. "Remind us not to try this in Voyager."

"Destiny is really showing off now." Tom said amazed.

B'Elanna remarked. "I would have ticked this off my bucket list if it was on it."

Seven observed. "Impressive. It is amazing a ship with this capability was constructed so long ago."

"It most certainly is." Tom agreed.

"Starfleet is going to be so impressed when they find out what this ship can do." Harry said astonished.

**Star Trek Universe – Voyager – Sick Bay**

B'Elanna Torres, Tom Paris and Harry Kim all entered sick bay. They were going to activate the Doctor but they saw him in his office typing away at his computer. He looked up as they entered.

"We just got back from Voyager and we've got a gift for you, Doc." Harry announced.

"I've got to admit I don't usually get a gift." The Doctor remarked.

"Just because you're not flesh and blood doesn't mean you shouldn't get a present now and then." Harry said.

"Here it is." B'Elanna announced. She held out a mobile emitter.

"Very funny." The Doctor remarked. "Last time I checked, that was mine."

"Really? How about this?" Tom asked. He held out another mobile emitter.

"Two of them?" The Doctor asked.

"How about this?" Harry said as he held out a mobile emitter.

"Or this?" B'Elanna held out another mobile emitter in her other hand. Four mobile emitters, all identical.

"Oh. That replicator table they found on Destiny." The Doctor realised. "If it can replicate this, then it's better than our replicators."

"Don't get too excited. We haven't run any diagnostics on them yet." B'Elanna said. "We don't know if the other three work."

"We admit we don't even know which one is the original." Tom confessed. "We had them together in one bag."

"We'll let you test them out. Bye." Tom said.

"By the way we've ended our stay on Destiny. We'll be on Voyager for the time being. Bye." B'Elanna said as she followed Tom out of sickbay.

"I hope all those emitters work. Bye." Harry said as he left sickbay.

The Doctor held up the four mobile emitters in his hands. "These should come in handy." He said to himself.

**Star Trek Universe - Destiny – Brig - The Next Day**

Eli, Matthew, Ronald, Darren and the other three soldiers were in the brig on Destiny. It was a room which had been assigned as the brig because it had one door and no windows. They all looked up as the door opened.

"All right, you deviants." Colonel Everett Young greeted them. "You've spent one day in the brig on Voyager and one day in the brig here on Destiny. I'm not letting you lazy layabouts waste anymore time in here. So time's up. You're outta' here. This doesn't mean you're off the hook. You'll be on cleaning duties for the next week. But for now, it's ten minutes until dinner. You're all on Destiny for the rest of the trip. No more trips to Voyager. Now get out of here." They all quickly left the brig.

**Destiny – Officer's Mess**

The Officer's Mess was nearly full of Destiny and Voyager crewmembers commencing their dinner. Outside in the corridor, Matthew, Eli and the other recent occupants of the brig spotted Lisa Park about to enter the Officer's Mess.

"Lisa!" Matthew called out. She stopped and faced him.

"umm, hi." Lisa said nervously with a smile on her face.

"Lisa, I have to know. Please tell me that you did not tell anybody."

"Do you mean…are you talking about…" Lisa struggled to say. She noticed they were all looking at her intently.

"The incident. Have you told anyone about the incident?" Matthew asked.

"No. Of course not. I'd never do that." Lisa said a little bit too quickly.

"Okay then." Matthew said, not entirely convinced. They all entered the officer's mess. As they made their way over to get in line to where the dinners were being handed out, they noticed the usual noisy hustle and bustle around them quieten down. Eli, Matthew, Ronald, Darren and the other three soldiers from the brig looked at everyone around them. Everyone quickly looked away from them and continued having their dinner. It looked like a lot of people were smirking and trying not to be noticed. One by one Eli, Matthew and the others received dinner and they walked over to a table. The table had only one occupant already there, Chloe Armstrong. The ex-brig members were getting more and more nervous as they continued to look around at everyone as they approached the table. It looked like everyone was trying their hardest not to laugh.

They all sat down at the table, including Lisa Park. Matthew sat directly across from Chloe. Although everyone else was smirking, Chloe was glaring directly at Matthew. Her lips were in a straight line. Her eyes were looking directly at Matthew's eyes. It looked like she was shooting daggers at him through her eyes. From Eli's point of view, it looked like Chloe was trying to incinerate Matthew with heat vision. They realised no one was talking and everyone was trying to steal a glance at the newest arrivals when they weren't looking. They all started eating for about a minute before everyone at Chloe's table eventually started looking at Lisa Park.

Lisa realized everyone at the table beside Chloe was looking at her, and none of them were happy. The tension was building more and more. She tried to continue eating. But It quickly became too much for Lisa and she quickly grabbed her dinner plate, utensils and cup, stood up and quickly hurried, almost running, out of the Officer's Mess. She will have her dinner elsewhere. After she had left, everyone's eyes settled back on Chloe's table. Matthew and the others did not know what to do. They very uncomfortably resumed eating their dinner. The only sound in the room for the next two minutes was the kitchen utensils on the dinner plates.

Suddenly, from another table, Vanessa James said, rather loudly, "Computer, remove grass."

The whole room suddenly erupted into very loud laughter. Apart from the people at Chloe's table, nobody could hold it in. Everyone was howling in fits of laughter. People who were drinking at the time suddenly spewed their beverage over their dinner plates as they lost it completely. It was as if everyone had heard their best joke. Some were laughing so hard they were crying. This was too much for the people at Chloe's table. They decided to copy what Lisa Park did. They got up, picked up their dinners, utensils and cup, and started to walk out of the Officer's Mess. They looked around as they walked. Everyone was still laughing, including Nicolas Rush, who was trying but failing to keep a straight face. Eli was last to start moving.

"C'mon Eli. You don't have to leave." Vanessa called out. "We know you still had your clothes on."

"I'm out of here." Eli responded. He continued and followed the others out the door. Well, it looked to everyone else that they will be eating dinner elsewhere on Destiny. Chloe was left alone at the table. She resumed eating, and glared at anyone who looked at her, until they resumed eating their own dinner. Eli, Matthew and the others settled on a nearby briefing room which also had tables and chairs and finished their dinner there.

There were half a dozen crewmembers from Voyager in the Officer's Mess, including Harry Kim. They were laughing along with everyone else. Harry was glad that Tom Paris and B'Elanna had decided to end their stay on Destiny earlier that day. When they took the mobile emitters back to Voyager, they took their luggage with them. They had correctly assumed that the secret would have gotten out. They also assumed the secret would get out on Voyager as well, but they preferred to be on familiar ground when it happened.

A few tables away from Harry Kim sat Adam Brody. Adam started to pull a device out of his shirt pocket.

"Wait, leave that there." Dale Volker quickly said.

"When should we tell them about this?" Adam said.

"I'll leave it for now. We'll spring this on them in about a week. Eli would be the best person to figure out how it works. Just let everyone think that there are only four of those devices for now."

Adam put the mobile emitter back in his pocket.

Colonel Everett Young caught up with Lisa Park later that night. Lisa swore to Everett that she only told one person, Vanessa James and that she swore her to secrecy. Lisa also said that several Voyager crewmembers also spilled the beans about the holodeck incident. Too many crewmembers had come up to Lisa asking was it true? Everett was torn on how to punish Lisa. She had breached confidentiality, but the people on Destiny had decided years ago to not to bother keeping secrets on Destiny, because being stranded on Destiny, who were they going to tell? Lisa Park, however, found herself on cleaning duties alongside Matthew, Eli, Ronald, Darren and the others.

**Destiny**

Several days later the three repair bots managed to repair enough of Destiny to open another section. They were hoping for another incredible lab or workshop. What they found instead were more crew quarters which could comfortably accommodate up to an extra fifty people. Both Everett Young and Kathryn Janeway thought this was good news. This allowed another two-dozen people from Voyager to move to Destiny to help with repairs and to study Destiny. As Voyager was just hanging out by the intergalactic wormhole, it no longer needed to be fully manned. It also allowed Destiny to stay at FTL for a few days at a time. This allowed Destiny to cover more ground. People from Voyager were more than happy to move to Destiny as it provided a change of scenery. They had also already learned that although Destiny looks like a derelict ship, it was incredibly advanced and built to last.

The people on Destiny didn't have to worry about not having access to a food replicator on Voyager. There were enough cooks on Destiny, and they still had enough food obtained by the initial run on Planet Tareeno, that they were capable of cooking terrific meals. Dinner on Destiny was just as appreciated now as they were on Voyager.

The EMH Doctor was also sent to Destiny while Tom Paris took his place as the Doctor on Voyager. On Destiny the Doctor was assigned several shifts with Tamara Johansen. Among the many gadgets the Doctor took with him was both a medical tricorder and a standard tricorder. The standard tricorder was used for scanning the gadgets in Destiny's infirmary. TJ subjected the Doctor to an endless series of questions on medical procedures that had stumped her during her time on Destiny. Although there was an instruction manual in Destiny's memory banks, it was in Ancient, not English.

The instruction manual was where the EMH Doctor's skills really shined. He was able to download what the crew of Destiny had already managed to translate of the Alteran language in one second. He then scanned through the Ancient manual at the speed of a computer. He was able to combine his medical knowledge to figure out what the most correct translation is. There were different names for diseases, viruses, cancers and procedures, but the Doctor was able to read the symptoms to figure out what the corresponding English name was for most of them. The only diseases he couldn't translate were the unknown diseases which humans didn't suffer from today and had no translation. To summarize, the Doctor was able to do in one minute what would have taken a team of professionals over a year to do.

TJ was glad to finally know what all the gadgets in the infirmary did. The Doctor was impressed by what TJ was able to accomplish with the limited training and resources she had. She was capable of thinking outside the box.

Two weeks later Destiny reached the location of the second Stargate on their course to Earth. The planet was uninhabited by any intelligent life, only animals. It was buried as expected. Just as before, the Delta Flyer was used to excavate it out of the ground by using phasers and brought it up to Destiny by tractor beam. Destiny continued on its course for Earth.

One week later they had managed to open another section on Destiny. This section revealed the fusion power storage units where Destiny stores its power when it flies through a star. Tuvok and Seven inspected them and scanned them with their tricorders. They had been told earlier that the power storage units could only store a fraction as much power as they used to. Tuvok advised them that based on his scans, Earth should be able to repair them.

Although they now had enough fusion reactors to do a supply run to Stargate Earth using shuttlecraft, they had decided to hold off for now. The main reason for this was that everyone now wanted to check out 24th century Star Trek Earth. The other reason was that Star Trek Voyager resembled a luxurious cruise liner and nobody minded being on Destiny anymore considering it was in much better shape. Another reason was that resources were no longer an issue considering that Voyager's replicators can replicate most essential items such as toothbrushes, shampoo and electric shavers. The reason they gave Stargate Command, when they used the communication stones from Voyager during the times when it was on the Stargate Universe side of the intergalactic wormhole was that the fusion reactors required more testing before attempting several large Stargate jumps.

**Destiny – Forward Section – One Month Later**

Colonel Everett Young was walking along a corridor. He had heard rumours of two dozen Destiny crewmembers having a "nightclub" style of party twice a week late at night somewhere in this section. This was the same section that Eli and Chloe found accidentally when they were running from the Lucian Alliance when they managed to board this ship a few years ago. They had hidden themselves in the elevator and the elevator brought them here. For awhile, the elevator was the only safe way to reach this section. Now that they had four repair bots and people from both Destiny and Voyager repairing the ship, there were a few ways to walk here now.

Everett thought he would be wandering corridors for quite awhile trying to find where they were. But as he turned a corner, he could hear thumping music. It reminded him of the days back on Earth when he would go nightclubbing back in the 1980's. He let the music guide him closer. He could now hear the base music and the subwoofers vibrating the corridor. Where the hell did they find base speakers and a subwoofer? He thought. The only speakers on Destiny are intercom speakers. He had kept track of all shipments from Voyager to Destiny through the Stargate. There is no way they could have smuggled giant speakers through. He'll find out in a few seconds, though. He was standing right outside the closed door. Well, here goes nothing. Everett pressed the button on the door. The door whooshed open. The loud music greeted him first.

"What the hell?" Everett stammered out loud. He was expecting to see up to twenty-four people. He found about thirty people in there. They were all dancing. One by one they all looked at him and stopped dancing. Somebody turned the music off. There was now silence. Everett scanned their faces. Matthew Scott, Ronald Greer, Darren Becker, Eli Wallace, Adam Brody, Dale Volker and several other people from Destiny. Then he recognised Chloe Armstrong, Lisa Park and a few other female crewmembers. There were even about a dozen people from Voyager here. From what he could remember, all of them were ensigns, none of them had a senior rank. Everybody was looking at him in shock. Wait, not all of them. There were a lot of good-looking young women here. They were not shocked at all. They were just smiling. Some were wearing mini-skirts and tank tops. Others were wearing short dresses. Where did they get those clothes? Although the light had been turned down by about half to resemble a typical nightclub, there was still enough light for him to realise that he didn't recognise any of the smiling girls. He had seen all the crewmembers on Voyager so he would have remembered these good-looking girls. Those girls were really easy to tell apart from the Destiny crewmembers because they weren't wearing the standard "office style" clothes that the civilian contractors received from Tareeno or the military clothes that the soldiers wore or the Starfleet uniforms that the Voyager crewmembers were. He was about to ask who the girls were when he spotted them. The devices. On the upper arms of the girls. He'd seen them before. On the EMH Doctor.

Mobile emitters.

He remembered the EMH Doctor wearing one when he visited Destiny to help out TJ in the infirmary. Those girls. They're not real. They're holograms. Holy crap! They couldn't get to the holodeck anymore. So they got creative and brought the holodeck to Destiny. Or at least the holographic characters. Man! They're resourceful! And creative! It was their creativity that managed to keep them alive on Destiny all those years. It looks like they've found a new outlet for their creativity. Then he saw the massive sound system in the distance. He also spotted a mobile emitter on it. Ha! The sound system was also a hologram!

What the hell was he going to do about this? It's way too much. He'd be putting half the crew in the brig. There was only one thing he could do about it.

"I was never here. Carry on." Everett said. He then pressed the button and the door whooshed closed in front of him. He turned and walked down the corridor back to his quarters. When he turned a second corner, he heard the music come back on.

When he had first opened the door, he spotted Chloe dancing with Matthew. Well, at least those two have gotten over their differences. It looked like those ensigns from Voyager have decided to stay mum about those mobile emitters as well. He figured if people wanted to have fun then they'll find a way. Well, they'll be on Earth, that is, Star Trek Earth, in less than 2 weeks.

* * *

I had to summarise bits here and there or they would never get to Earth.

Next chapter: They finally get there. Earth!


End file.
